ENGLISH 1222: American Literature, 1865-Present

Spring Semester, 2015

Section B: Tu/Th 9:30-10:45

Instructor: Dr. Trent Watts

Office: H-SS 217
Office Hours: Tu/Th 11:00-12:00, and by appointment
Email: wattsta@mst.edu
The class meets in Engineering Management 201
Course Objectives:
As its title implies, this course has the main purpose of introducing you to great works of American
literature from the late-nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In addition, I expect that this course will help
you to become more careful and skillful readers of literary texts in general.
You will be evaluated in several ways. While this class is predominately a lecture course, class discussion
will allow you to work toward interpretations of texts that you'll be able to expand upon in exams; class
participation will also demonstrate "effort," and will be heavily rewarded. Exams will test how carefully
you studied the assignments and how well you're able to synthesize what you read and discussed in class.
Required Texts:
William E. Cain, ed., American Literature, Vol. 2. 2nd ed. Pearson, 2014.
William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, 1930.
You'll find this syllabus and other important announcements at the Blackboard website:
http://blackboard.mst.edu. Use your Missouri S & T email username and password to access the website. I
reserve the right to make changes to the syllabus at my discretion. I will announce these changes in class or
via email.
Grading:
In order to do well in this class, you must read all the material carefully and according to the schedule, and
you must attend class. In assigning grades, I will follow these grading guidelines: (A) means genuinely
outstanding work, mastery of the subject, near flawless exposition, and incisive interpretation. (B) means
well above average achievements in mastery of the subject, exposition, and interpretation throughout the
course. (C) means comprehension of the basic concepts, competent exposition, and interpretation,
indicating that the student has learned the subject at an appropriate university level. (D) means
unsatisfactory but still barely passing. (F) means failure. I use a conventional ten-point grading scale: 90100--A; 80-89--B; 70-79--C; 60-69--D; 50-59--F.
Here are the requirements:
Midterm Exam I
Midterm Exam II
Attendance and Participation
Final Exam

30%
30%
10%
30%

Disability Accommodation:
If you have a documented disability and anticipate needing accommodations in this course, you are
strongly encouraged to meet with me early in the semester. You will need to request that the Disability

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Services staff send a letter to me verifying your disability and specifying the accommodation you will need
before I can arrange your accommodation.
Attendance Policy: It is your responsibility to attend class. You will not pass if you dont attend. This is
not high school; this is the real world. In the real world, you cannot miss work or other obligations without
consequences. I will check attendance at each class meeting. If you are late, or if you leave early, you will
be counted absent. You are allowed four absences this semester. If you miss five or six classes, your final
grade will be lowered by a letter grade. If you miss seven or more classes, you'll receive an F for the
course. Read the attendance policy again. If you plan to miss a lot of classes, I suggest that you drop
this course now.
Matters of Courtesy: Dont arrive late for class. It's rude and disruptive. If you must arrive late, enter
quietly and sit near the door. I will not allow you to tape my lectures. You may bring a drink to class, but no
food. Turn off your cell phone and other electronic devices, including laptop computers, before you enter
the classroom. If I see you using an electronic device after class has begun, I will ask you to leave. Second
offenders will receive a drop slip.
Treat everyone with respect. This is an academic community dedicated to free inquiry. But free inquiry
depends upon listening to other peoples ideas, even unpopular ones. If you feel unable to follow these
rules, drop the class.
Read the biographical headnote in the anthology for each author. Bring your book to class every day.
The material well read this semester will treat frankly and honestly mature themes and situations such as
war, sex, divorce, adultery, and race relations in America. If you are overly sensitive or easily offended,
consider yourself warned.
JANUARY
20
22

Introduction to the course; Lazarus, 126

Mark Twain, 11; Harte, 31

27

Washington, 164; Du Bois, 253

29

Dreiser, 268; Bierce, 55

FEBRUARY
3

Chopin, 144; Garland, 194

Frost, 419ff: Mending Wall, The Road Not Taken, Out, Out, Nothing Gold Can Stay;
Williams, 470ff: The Young Housewife, Portrait of a Lady, The Red Wheelbarrow, This Is
Just to Say

10

Eliot, 499ff: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, The Waste Land, section I, 506

12

Cummings, 593-596; Ransom, 497; Sandburg, 454

17

Porter, 559; Fitzgerald, 606

19

EXAM ONE

24

Hemingway, 643; Faulkner, 627

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26

Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

MARCH
3

Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

CLASS WILL NOT MEET

10

Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

12

SPRING RECESS

17

Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

19

Cheever, 863; Roethke, 1182

SPRING BREAK
31

Lowell, 1218ff: Memories of West Street and Lepke, Skunk Hour, Night Sweat, For the
Union Dead

APRIL
2

Hughes, 691ff: The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Mother to Son, The South, Ballad of the
Landlord, Theme for English B

EXAM TWO

Welty, 771; OConnor, 913

14

Hayden, 1204; Ellison, 876; Brooks, 1228

16

Baldwin, 895

21

Williams, 779; Act I

23

Williams, Acts II and III

28

Updike, 947; Tan, 1094; Piercy, 1453ff

30

Oates, 1002; Wright, 1292ff

MAY
5

Walker, 1041; OBrien, 1049

EXAM THREE