This document outlines the syllabus for an English literature course titled "Survey of American Literature from 1865 to Present." The course will examine major American literary works and movements from the Reconstruction era to today. Students will analyze how literature responded to modernization and tensions surrounding issues like race, class, and gender. They will also consider the impact of world events like world wars and the Cold War. Assessment will include short online responses, discussions of critical questions, a literary analysis paper, a historical book review, an exploratory essay, and a final paper. The course aims to develop students' close reading, interpretation, and critical thinking skills regarding American poetry, short stories, and novels over this period.
This document outlines the syllabus for an English literature course titled "Survey of American Literature from 1865 to Present." The course will examine major American literary works and movements from the Reconstruction era to today. Students will analyze how literature responded to modernization and tensions surrounding issues like race, class, and gender. They will also consider the impact of world events like world wars and the Cold War. Assessment will include short online responses, discussions of critical questions, a literary analysis paper, a historical book review, an exploratory essay, and a final paper. The course aims to develop students' close reading, interpretation, and critical thinking skills regarding American poetry, short stories, and novels over this period.
This document outlines the syllabus for an English literature course titled "Survey of American Literature from 1865 to Present." The course will examine major American literary works and movements from the Reconstruction era to today. Students will analyze how literature responded to modernization and tensions surrounding issues like race, class, and gender. They will also consider the impact of world events like world wars and the Cold War. Assessment will include short online responses, discussions of critical questions, a literary analysis paper, a historical book review, an exploratory essay, and a final paper. The course aims to develop students' close reading, interpretation, and critical thinking skills regarding American poetry, short stories, and novels over this period.
This document outlines the syllabus for an English literature course titled "Survey of American Literature from 1865 to Present." The course will examine major American literary works and movements from the Reconstruction era to today. Students will analyze how literature responded to modernization and tensions surrounding issues like race, class, and gender. They will also consider the impact of world events like world wars and the Cold War. Assessment will include short online responses, discussions of critical questions, a literary analysis paper, a historical book review, an exploratory essay, and a final paper. The course aims to develop students' close reading, interpretation, and critical thinking skills regarding American poetry, short stories, and novels over this period.
ENG 200: Survey of American Literature, 1865 to present
English 200, American Literature from 1865, serves as an introduction to American literature and literary movements from Reconstruction to today. We will consider a wide range of questions and issues as we examine this literature, including the way that authors and the reading public responded to the ever-shifting modern world. We will examine the ways that race, class, and gender become major points of tension and how great works of arts are created out of such tensions. We will also examine how two world wars, the subsequent anxiety surrounding the Cold War, and countercultures all manifest complex aesthetic questions. The last 150 years of American literary production has opened fascinating and precise questions about the human moment that impact us today. We will approach the course in three ways: first, by framing texts in a larger social and cultural historical context; second, by examining the nexus between art and technology of the time; and third, by using digital tools that will help us think more broadly about the American experiment. Required Texts: Please buy the exact copy with the correct ISBN number: The Norton Anthology of American Literature after 1865, ed. Nina Baym, et al. 8th edition Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man Lorrie Moore, A Gate at the Stairs All other texts and pdfs can be found on the digital syllabus at lisachinn.com Participation and discussion are two major components of this course. Thus, if you have more than three absences, your grade will automatically fall one letter grade. If you have more than six absences, you will automatically get an F for the course. If you cannot meet these requirements, I encourage you to drop the course before the end of the Add/ Drop period. If you arrive fifteen minutes late, youll automatically be counted absent. Laptop/ E-Reader policy: I do not allow laptops or E-Readers in the classroom. While we will have a digital component later in the semester, recent studies have shown that writing by hand actually improves retention of classroom discussions. Please take notes by hand. (Youll thank me after you take your midterm exam!) Mobile Phone Policy: Absolutely NO mobile phones allowed in class. If I see you looking at your crotch, I will assume you are looking at your phone and will ask you to leave the classroom for the day. Course Objectives: By the end of this course I expect that you will be able -To read and annotate poems, short stories, and novels carefully. -To identify an authors formal and stylistic choices. -To advance compelling interpretations of poetry, short stories, and novels through discussion and writing. -To think critically and creatively about poetry, short stories, and novels. -To work between various genres and styles of American literature.
Short online responses
You will be asked to post 5 short responses (500-700 words) to the class website throughout the semester. The goal of the response is to synthesize what you have read, and a successful response will also include a critical question that others in the class may comment upon.
Chinn: Survey of American Literature
Short online responses to critical questions You will post 5 responses (500 words) to critical questions that a classmate will ask in her short response section. When it is NOT your turn to write a short online response, you will write a response to the critical question. Literary analysis Over the course of the semester, you will write a literary analysis paper (4-5 pages, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-pt. font, MLA style) in which you do a close reading of a text of your choice (we will talk about what a close reading is in class). Historical Book review You will have to submit one review of your choice. You will need to examine the section on the class website entitled bad reviews of your favorite authors. You will be required to write a review that rebuts the historical bad review, but keep in mind that you will need to give concrete examples that refute the pretentious reviews of yore. Your review should be 4-5 pages long (double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-pt. font, MLA style). Exploratory essay You will submit an exploratory essay (4-5 pages, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-pt. font, MLA style) in which you describe your thinking process about a problem you will wrestle with more coherently in your final paper. You will need to tell me why you became interested in this problem and how your thinking has evolved through class discussion and your own research. Final paper You will submit a final paper (8-10 pages, double-spaced, 1-inch margins, 12-pt. font, MLA style) confronting a problem of your choice. This paper may develop out of any of the assignments that youve submitted for the class. Please use a maximum of three outside texts. I will aks you to turn in a rough draft two weeks before the final is due. Grading Breakdown: 10% Participation in class 20% Short online responses 20% Responses to critical questions
20% Historical book review
20% Final Paper (8-10 pages) 10% Exploratory paper