English 250: Great American Books

Instructor: John C. Goshert
Office: 420 HEAV  phone: 43767
e-mail: goshert@purdue.edu
Office Hours: M/W 12:30-2:00

THE TEXTS
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter (1850).  Norton Critical Ed.  1990.
Melville, Herman. Bartleby and Benito Cereno (1856).  Dover Thrift.  1991.
James, Henry.  Daisy Miller (1878).  Dover Thrift.  1995.
Hemingway, Ernest. The Sun Also Rises (1926).  Simon and Schuster.  1982.
Okada, John.  No-No Boy (1957).  University of Washington Press.  1997.
Morrison, Toni.  Song of Solomon (1977).  Dutton-Signet.  19987.
Schulman, Sarah.  Rat Bohemia (1995).  Plume.  1995.

All texts available at Von's, except for Schulman's novel, which must be purchased at another store
(ie. Barnes and Noble) or through an online source such as amazon.com (new) or powells.com (used).
Make sure you have a copy soon, as the novel is going out of print; otherwise, there will be at least
one extra copy on reserve.

Additional companion texts will be available at the reserve desk in the HICKS library.

THE COURSE
This section of Great American Books will deal specifically with the developing, and constantly shifting,
notions of American identity over the last century and a half.  We begin with the American renaissance
(Hawthorne, Melville), which finds American identity facing dissolution under threat of secession and civil
war.  We then examine modern American identity as it develops in the context of industrialization at the
turn of the century and in the memory or absence of America through the expatriate viewpoint (James,
Hemingway).  Ethnicity comes to the foreground in early contemporary work, complicating what it means
to be "other" in America (Okada, Morrison).  Lastly, we trace American identity slipping "out of bounds"
in the contexts of a rising techno-information culture and the AIDS epidemic (Schulman).

ASSIGNMENTS
Because this is a literature course, I expect you to have done the readings assigned for each day and be
prepared to discuss them.  In order to ensure this taking place, attendance and participation are crucial
components of the course.

Of the sixteen weeks of class, there will be ten response papers due.  These papers will be about two pages
in length and will address issues, themes, concepts, either in individual readings or between sets of readings
as the student finds appropriate.  Due Fridays.  See two sample response papers

There will be a take home midterm.

A term paper proposal, which will include a tentative discussion of the project and its significance, and a working
bibliography (to be defined), will be due on or before Friday 10 November.

A term paper of 8-10 pages will be due on the last day of class.

All written work will follow MLA format (to be discussed in class).  Plagiarism will result in failure of the course
and administrative action.

Each student will select a date to give a short presentation (of about 10 minutes) and lead discussion for at least
a portion of the day's class time.  You are encouraged to present in groups (of no more than three) but length of
presentation increases accordingly with the number of presenters.

VALUE OF ASSIGNMENTS
Response papers: 30%
Midterm: 20%
Term paper proposal: 10%
Term paper: 20%
Attendance/participation: 20%

SCHEDULE

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