CONTEMPORARY AMERICAN LITERATURE
English 3540, Spring 2004
LA 113, T/H 7:00-8:15
Instructor: Dr. John Charles Goshert
Office: LA 121t Hours: T/H 2:30-4:00 and by appointment
Phone: 863-6288 e-mail: gosherjo@uvsc.edu
Course Overview
An upper division survey, this section of Contemporary American Literature
will center on in-depth readings and analyses of six post-1970 works by prominent—although
not necessarily “dominant”—American authors.
We begin with Joan Didion’s Hollywood novel, Play it as it Lays (1970), and continue through the 1970s with Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon
(1977), which addresses the challenges of revisiting both African American
history and contemporary black identities. Don DeLillo’s Libra (1988)
is a postmodernist treatment of the Kennedy assassination, its prologue,
and aftermath. Works from the 1990s include Frank Chin’s coming of age
novel Donald Duk (1991), Dark Blue Suit (1997), Peter Bacho’s
collected reflections on Filipino-American culture in post-war America, and
Sarah Schulman’s historical novel, Shimmer (1998).
Course materials also include readings in criticism (works that deal with
the course’s focus novels/authors, as well as general literary/philosophical
scholarship), poetry, fiction, etc., which will be assigned as appropriate
throughout the semester.
Major assignments include weekly response papers and
a final project, which will include a research component. Consistent attendance and active participation are
also course requirements and will figure into your final grade.
Prerequisite Skills
Using reading skills and argumentative strategies learned in courses such
as Engl 2890 and 2010, students are expected, from the opening of the course,
to be prepared to actively, critically read literary texts, and to respond
orally and through writing. This course will add to those skills and
strategies through lecture, class discussion, and engagement with current
critical approaches of responding to literature.
Response Paper Guidelines
Each Tuesday, a 2 page response paper will be due. While this paper
is, primarily, an expression of your opinion, you should nonetheless form
a cogent, well-written argument. The best responses are often those
that take on a specific topic from lecture, class discussions, presentations
(or, of course, from your own reading alone), which is then worked out in
some critical/analytic detail. Avoid trying to fit an entire week’s
reading—an entire novel or other extended text—into your response, since
this leaves you with such a broad scope that any detailed examination is
rather difficult. At a reasonable point in the semester, the expectation
for papers generally is that theoretical works, or other supplemental readings,
will be incorporated into arguments.
Avoid simply summarizing the text and, instead, argue for a particular position,
for a particular “reading.” Your treatment of whatever topic you choose
will be enhanced not only by a cogent argument, but also by your incorporation
of specific material from the texts (both literary and critical); that is,
present details, such as dialogue or other citations. This is in keeping
with that old adage of “showing” rather than “telling” as you work out your
argument/position.
Consider also, addressing questions you have about the reading—perhaps centered
on a scene, event, character, etc. How do specific questions or parts
of the novel/essay/poem inform the significance of the whole? You may
also think about developing connections between works—how do formal characteristics,
topics, characters, etc. resonate across our focus period, across gender
and/or ethnic boundaries? How are those characteristics treated differently
and why?
Plan to put your growing critical apparatus into practice. Articulate
your agreement or dissention with critical responses we read, or pursue critical
readings on your own which will allow you to enter into an informed conversation
on literary, cultural, and theoretical concepts.
See two sample response papers from the first week of class.
See a sample MLA Works Cited page.
Grade Distribution/Policy Notes
Response papers: 40%
Term Project: 40%
Attendance/Participation: 20%
- If you have any disability that may impair your ability to successfully
complete this course, please contact the Accessibility Services Department
located in BU 146. Academic Accommodations are granted for all students who
have qualified documented disabilities. Services are coordinated with the
student and instructor by the Accessibility Services Department. Accessibility
Services Department telephone 801-863-8747; TDD 801-221-0908.
- Plagiarism will result in failure of the course and the possibility of administrative action.
- Attendance is required. You should plan to attend and be prepared for each class meeting.
- All written work will follow MLA style guidelines; late work will not be accepted.
- This is a class focused on developing strategies of critical
thinking, analysis, and writing through literature. Course materials
are determined by standards of academic inquiry and a commitment to the exchange
of ideas; materials will not be “rated G” or censored in any way.
- Per UVSC policies: “Each student is expected to take an active
role in the learning process by meeting course requirements as specified
in written syllabi” (VII.A). Thus, the course syllabus comprises a
contract between instructor and students, who will be held to its terms and
expectations. “The right to receive academic credit and/or academic
degrees when all specified requirements and course work have been satisfied”
(V.L). In other words, the student has the right to receive credit
for work that meets or exceeds satisfactory performance; however, the student
also has the right to fail based on those same conditions of performance.
- It is not only your right, but also your responsibility to ask
questions, to raise challenges, to discuss readings, and to otherwise participate
in the class as it unfolds over the semester.
Required Reading—to be purchased
Please buy the indicated editions
Didion, Joan. Play it as it Lays (1970). Noonday Press, 1996. ISBN: 0374521719
Morrison, Toni. Song of Solomon (1976). Plume, 1987. ISBN: 0452260116
DeLillo, Don. Libra (1988). Penguin USA, 1991. ISBN: 0140156046
Chin, Frank. Donald Duk (1991). Coffee House Press, 1991. ISBN 0918273838
Bacho, Peter. Dark Blue Suit (1997). University of Washington, 1999. ISBN: 0295976373
Schulman, Sarah. Shimmer (1998). Bard, 1999. ISBN: 0380797658
Required Reading—to be photocopied
Rhodes, Chip. “The Hollywood Novel: Gender and Lacanian Tragedy in Joan Didion’s Play It As It Lays.” Style 34.1
(2000): 132-43.
Edington, K. “The Hollywood Novel: American Dream, Apocalyptic Vision.” Literature Film Quarterly 23.1 (1995): 63-67.
Favor, J. Martin. “Discourses of Black Identity: the Elements of Authenticity.” Authentic Blackness. Durham: Duke
UP, 1999. 1-23.
Murray, Rolland. “The Long Strut: Song of Solomon and the Emancipatory Limits of Black Patriarchy.” Callaloo 22.1 (1999):
121-33.
Hutcheon, Linda. “Representing the Postmodern.” The Politics of Postmodernism. New York: Routledge, 1989. 1-29.
Kruger, Barbara. “March 1987.” Remote Control. Cambridge: MIT UP, 1993. 86-89
Chin, Frank. “This Is not an Autobiography!” Genre 18 (1995): 109-30.
Li, David Leiwei. “The Formation of Frank Chin.” Asian Americans: Comparative and Global Perspectives. Ed. Shirley Hune
et al. Pullman: Washington State UP, 1991. 212-23.
Levy, EJ. “Why Is Lesbian Fiction so Bad?” Harvard Gay and Lesbian Review 3.3 (1996): 11-14.
Schulman, Sarah. “Selling AIDS and Other Consequences of the Commodification of Homosexuality.” Stagestruck. Durham:
Duke UP: 1998. 101-43.
The above material is obtained through electronic library reserves: http://eres.uvsc.edu
TENTATIVE CLASS SCHEDULE
January
8 Course Introduction
13 Play it as it Lays (3-55)
15 Play (56-162)
20 complete Play it as it Lays
Edington (reserve)
22 Rhodes (reserve)
27 Song of Solomon (3-89)
29 Song (90-172)
February
3 Song (173-258)
5 Song (259-325)
10 complete Song of Solomon
Murray (reserve)
12 Favor (reserve)
17 Hutcheon (reserve)
Libra (3-49)
19 Libra (50-148)
24 Libra (149-268)
26 Libra (269-354)
March
2 complete Libra
4 Kruger (reserve)
9 Donald Duk (1-60)
11 Donald (61-117)
16 complete Donald Duk
18 Chin (reserve)
23 Li (reserve)
25 no class
30 Dark Blue Suit (3-80)
April
1 complete Dark Blue Suit
6 Levy (reserve)
Shimmer (3-61)
8 Shimmer (62-141)
13 Shimmer (142-207)
15 complete Shimmer
20 Schulman (reserve)
22 last day of class
27 Final Exam Period: final project due