American Literature: 1865-present

At the end of the semester, you should not expect to have unassailable responses to the poetry, essays, and fiction we address. Instead, you will have been exposed to several ways of reading and contextualizing those works, and you will have participated in the critical discourse surrounding them. You are expected to devote intellectual energy to that discourse as you devise informed answers to the questions raised by these texts and our discussion of them.

• Read. Most of your class preparation will be spent reading and developing responses to novels. We will read pieces by several poets, short stories by two writers, and some non-fiction, but the overwhelming majority of material will be the eight longer works included in this course's plan. I will give specific guidelines for what reading is due each class day (i.e., you will not be expected to finish novels by the first meeting devoted to them; I will give you pages or sections to complete). It is absolutely necessary that you read on time. If there are works on the syllabus with which you are already familiar, re-read them. The best responses to literature are always the product of multiple readings.
• Participate. Good class participation means thoughtful discussion (which should also stimulate strong ideas for your written work), so please devote some time to identifying issues that you think deserve attention in class. Do not hesitate to respond to my questions or your peers' comments, and do not be afraid to ask questions of your own.
• Attend. You are expected to be present for our meetings.
• Things that go without saying: Turn off your phones. Don't talk while others are speaking. Respect your colleagues.

There will be a midterm on October 17. It will consist of quote identification questions and short-answer questions.

There will be a final examination given at the time and date determined by the university's official examination schedule. It will consist of quote identification questions, short answer questions, and an essay question.

I will also assign between 8 and 10 short response assignments. These will take the form of 2-3 paragraph responses to discussion questions distributed in class. Generally, they will be distributed at the end of a class meeting, written outside of class, and turned in at the beginning of the next class meeting. However, I may ask you to do a few during the first minutes of class. If you fail to submit one of these, you will receive no credit on that assignment. At the end of the semester, I will drop the lowest two grades.