Syllabus #3
English 138: Contemporary American Literature
Professor Marilyn Edelstein
Professor Edelstein writes: I used Volume 2 of the anthology as one of the required texts in a new upper division Contemporary American Literature class I taught in winter quarter 1991. All in all, I and my students really liked and learned from the Heath. I had wished the Heath were divided into four volumes instead of two, so period (rather than broader survey) courses like mine could only buy the relevant volume. I felt a little guilty that my students had to buy, along with several other books, a huge volume from which we would only use a fairly small sample-but only a little guilty, since I also thought it would be a wonderful book for students to keep and read around in later. At the beginning of the course, I asked students to choose writers in either of our anthologies whose work they would like to read. I based more than a third of our final reading list on these student selections. A democratic approach to the curriculum seemed appropriate when using such a "democratic" anthology. Students also suggested final exam questions, and I based two of the final questions on these suggestions. In class, I distributed additional materials, primarily interviews with and short articles by or about some of the writers in the Heath. I showed several videos, including some Bill Moyers interviews with writers whose work we were reading. I also distributed the piece on the Heath that appeared that quarter in the Chronicle of Higher Education, since we'd been discussing questions of canon and disciplinary debates. Bernice Zamora, whose work appears in the Heath, teaches at Santa Clara, and she graciously agreed to come to my class and read and discuss her poetry. It was a thrill for students to hear and see a living, lively, and very local writer whose work was in a textbook! I'm enclosing copies of my syllabus, exams, and paper handouts. Let me say again how excited I was to see the new Heath and how pleased I was with it. I also appreciate your interest in faculty and student experiences with and recommendations for the anthology. Please let me know if I can be of any further assistance.
Required Texts:
Course Description:
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Writing:
Exams:
Schedule of Readings, Papers, and Exams
Friday, Jan. 4: Introduction to course Mon., 1/7: Heath Intro. to "Contemporary Period," pp. 1764-1785 John Updike, "Separating," pp. 2007-2016 in Heath Wed., l/9: Bobbie Ann Mason, "Shiloh," pp. 2115-2126 in Heath Fri., l/ll: Raymond Carver, "Where I'm Calling From," pp. 64-77 in Norton Mon.,1/14: Tillie Olsen,"Tell Me A Riddle," pp. 1812-1840 in Heath Wed., 1/16: Flannery O'Connor, "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," pp.1935-1947 in Heath Fri., 1/18: Alice Walker, "Everyday Use," pp. 502-509 in Norton; Alice Walker's essay "In Search of our Mothers' Gardens" (handout) Monday, Jan. 21: Holiday (Martin Luther King's Birthday) (I suggest you read King's "I Have a Dream" and "I've Been to the Mountaintop," pp. 1957-1969 in Heath) Wed., 1/23: Toni Morrison, Beloved, pp. 1-73 Fri., 1/25: Beloved, pp. 74-134 Mon., 1/28: First Paper due; Beloved, pp. 135-217 Wed., l/30: Beloved, pp. 218-275 (end of novel) Fri., Feb. l: Margaret Atwood, "Rape Fantasies," pp. 19-27 in Norton Mon., 2/4: Midterm Exam (bring blue books and your texts) Wed., 2/6: Robert Coover, "The Babysitter," pp. 78-99 in Norton Fri., 2/8: Donald Barthelme, "The School," pp. 1979-1982 in Heath, and his "The Indian Uprising" pp. 37-42 in Norton Mon., 2/11: N. Scott Momaday, from The Way to Rainy Mountain, pp. 2038-2048 and Leslie Marmon Silko, "Lullaby," pp. 2167-2174 in Heath Wed., 2/13: Maxine Hong Kingston, "White Tigers," pp. 2094- 2115 in Heath Fri., 2/15: Joyce Carol Oates, "How I Contemplated . . ." 355-367 in Heath Mon., Feb. 18: Holiday (Presidents' Day) Wed., 2/20: Recommended conferences this week to discuss final paper plans, Adrienne Rich, poems, pp. 2409-2424 in Heath Thursday, February 21: Adrienne Rich Poetry Reading, 8:00 P.M., Engineering Bldg. Auditorium, San Jose State University (free) Fri., 2/22: Sylvia Plath, poems, pp. 2430-2439 in Heath Mon., 2/25: Bernice Zamora, poems, pp. 2491-2495, and Lorna Dee Cervantes, poems, pp. 2579-2585 in Heath, Plan/prospectus/outline of term paper due Wed., 2/27: Sonia Sanchez, poems and misc., pp. 2440-2448, and Amiri Baraka, poems, pp. 2448-2454 in Heath Fri., March I: Garrett Hongo, poems, pp. 2550-2562, and Janice Mirikitani, poems, pp. 2501-2509 in Heath Mon, 3/4: Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse Five, through p. 71; Rough drafts of term paper due (typed). Circulate to peer groups for reading and commenting on at home; you may also bring your draft in to discuss with me this week in conference Wed., 3/6: Bring in classmates' papers with comments; spend part of class period in peer revision workshops; Slaughterhouse Five, pp. 72-135 Fri., 3/8: Slaughterhouse Five, pp. 136-215 (end of novel) Mon., 3/11: Final Papers Due (you will need to hand in your rough drafts and outlines, too-all paper-clipped together Finish discussion of Slaughterhouse Five Wed., 3/13: Woody Allen's "The Kugelmass Episode," pp. 10-19
Friday, March 15: Last class |