English
3540: Contemporary American Literature
Fall 2004: T/H 2:30-3:45pm, LA 125
Instructor: Dr. John Charles Goshert
Office: LA 121t Hours: TBA and by appointment
Phone: 863-6288 e-mail: gosherjo@uvsc.edu
Required
Texts—to be purchased
Joan Didion. Play it as it Lays (1970). New York:
Noonday. ISBN
0374521719
Toni Morrison. The Bluest Eye (1970). New York:
Plume. ISBN
0452282195
Charles Johnson. Oxherding Tale (1982). New York:
Plume. ISBN
0452275032
Sherman Alexie. The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven
(1993).
New York: Harper Perennial.
ISBN 0060976241
Frank Chin. Gunga Din Highway (1994). Minneapolis:
Coffee House
Press. ISBN 1566890373
Sarah Schulman. Shimmer (1998). New York:
Bard. ISBN 0380797658
Required
Reading—to be photocopied
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.
Walther, Malin LaVon. “Out of Sight: Toni Morrison’s Revision of
Beauty.” Black American Literature Forum
24.4 (1990): 775-89.
Boccia, Michael. “An Interview with Charles Johnson.” African
American Review 30.4 (1996): 611-18
Coleman, James W. “Charles Johnson’s Quest for Black Freedom in Oxherding
Tale.” African American Review
29.4 (1995): 631-644
Mihelich, John. “Smoke or Signals?” Wicazo Sa Review
16.2
(2001): 129-37.
Chin, Frank. “This Is not an Autobiography” Genre
18 (1985):
109-30.
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.
Course
Overview, Objectives, Requirements
I could probably subtitle this course “a contemporary survey of
American cultures and
identities,” because each of our target authors is concerned with the
experience and
expression of minority—gender, ethnic, sexual—in the United
States. Each
novelist is a prominent—although not necessarily dominant—figure in
post-1970
American literature. We begin in 1970, with Didion’s, Play it
as it Lays,
which is about the decline of a Hollywood B-list actress, and Toni
Morrison’s The
Bluest Eye, which examines the challenges to creating and
maintaining black
identity. Charles Johnson’s Oxherding Tale is an
exemplary
“neo-slave narrative,” and Sherman Alexie’s The Lone Ranger and
Tonto
Fistfight in Heaven looks critically at contemporary Native
American experience.
In Gunga Din Highway, Frank Chin examines the relationships
between the lived
experience of Asian Americans and dominant mass media representations
of that
experience. Finally, in Shimmer, Sarah Schulman revisits
the role of mass
media in shaping the Red Scare in postwar America, and in particular,
the effects of the
period on minority groups.
Assignments include weekly response papers, a research-intensive term
project, and—of
course—attendance and active participation in class.
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
A 2-3 page response paper is due each Tuesday, beginning September
7th. While this
paper is, primarily, an expression of your opinion, you should
nonetheless develop a
cogent, well-written argument. The best responses 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.
Avoid 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 strong thesis, 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.
Develop the research and
response strategies which will be required for success on your term
project.
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.
The final response paper, a narrative self-and-course evaluation, is
due on the last day
of class.
See two sample
response
papers on Play it as it Lays from spring 2004;
and a new sample
response paper from fall 2004.
Grade
Distribution/Notes
Response papers: 40%
Final Paper: 30%
Attendance/Participation: 30%
• 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
see a sample
MLA works cited page;
late work will not be accepted.
• This is a class focused on developing strategies of
critical
thinking, analysis, and writing. 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.
• Students will activate their UVSC e-mail accounts
or notify the
instructor of alternate e-mail address.
• The course website
(http://complicity.uvsc.edu/~goshert/uvsc354c.html) will direct
students toward additional
resources for research, documentation, and bibliographic
conventions. Sample student
papers will also be archived, as available, throughout the semester.
Tentative
Class Schedule
August
26 Course Introduction
31 Play it as it Lays (3-55)
September
2 Play (56-162)
7 complete Play it as it Lays
Edington (reserve)
9 The Bluest Eye (1-58)
14 Bluest (59-109)
16 Bluest (110-83)
21 complete The Bluest Eye
23 Walther (reserve)
28 Favor (reserve)
30 Oxherding Tale (Introduction, 1-53)
October
5 Oxherding (54-97)
7 Oxherding (98-153)
12 complete Oxherding Tale
Boccia (reserve)
14 Coleman (reserve)
19 Lone Ranger and Tonto (1-103)
21 Lone Ranger (104-70)
26 complete Lone Ranger and Tonto
Mihelich (reserve)
28 No Class (Fall Break)
November
2 Research Seminar—class meets in LC 4--
4 Gunga Din Highway (1-93)
9 Gunga Din (94-189)
11 Gunga Din (190-268)
16 Gunga Din (269-351)
18 complete Gunga Din Highway
23 Chin (reserve)
25 No Class (Thanksgiving)
30 Levy (reserve)
Shimmer (3-141)
December
2 Shimmer (142-207)
7 complete Shimmer
9 Schulman (reserve)
14 Final Exam period: 1:00pm, LA 125
Deadline for all written work