Spring 2018 Schedule

Week 1__________________________

Tuesday, January 9

In Class

Thursday, January 11

Readings (available under “Readings” tab–Password = ENGL356):

  • Lawrence Buell: “The Unkillable Dream of the Great American Novel”
  • Rita Barnard: “Modern American Fiction,” from the Cambridge Companion to American Modernism

In Class

  • Blog Demo

Due

  • Group Survey:
  • Open survey and fill out to rank the order of your choices for the novel on which you want to focus for your major paper in this course. Note that group numbers also relate to you blogging assignment schedule.

Week 2__________________________

Tuesday, January 16 

Reading

  • Edith Wharton, House of Mirth, Book 1, Chapters 1 – 9 (5-109)

Due

  • Blog Posts from Groups 2 & 3

Thursday, January 18 

Reading

  • Edith Wharton, House of Mirth, Book 1, Chapters 10-15 & Book II, Chapters 1-2 (109-203)

Due

  • Blog Posts from Groups 4 & 5

Week 3__________________________

Tuesday, Jan. 23 

Reading

  • Edith Wharton, House of Mirth, Book II, Chapters 3-14 (203-320)

Due

  • Blog Posts from Group 6
  • Group 1 Presentations

Thursday, January 25 

Reading

  • Willa Cather, My Antonia, “Introduction” and Book 1 (“The Shimerdas”, 1-69 in the Dover edition)

Due

  • Blog Posts from Groups 7 & 3

Week 4__________________________

Tuesday, January 30

Reading

  • Willa Cather, My Antonia, Book II (“The Hired Girls”)

In Class: Three Questions for Cather

Due

  • Blog Posts from Groups 4 & 5
  • Group 1 Drafts Due

Thursday, Feb 1

Reading

  • Willa Cather, Book III-V (“Lena Lingard,” “The Pioneer Woman’s Story,” and “Cuzak’s Boys”)

Due

  • Blog Posts from Group 6
  • Group 2 Presentations

In Class: 

Week 5___________________________

Tuesday, February 6

Reading

  • John Dos Passos, 42nd Parallel, USA Prologue (xiii-xiv) and pages 1-103.

Due

  • Blog Posts from Groups 7 & 4
  • Group 1 Final Papers

Thursday, February 8

Reading

  • John Dos Passos, 42nd Parallel, 104-214

Due

  • Group 2 Drafts
  • Blog Posts from Groups 5 & 7

Week 6___________________________

Tuesday, February 13

Reading

  • John Dos Passos, 42nd Parallel, 214-323

Due

  • Group 3 Presentations
  • Blog posts from Group 6

Thursday, February 15

Reading

  • Nella Larsen, Passing,
    Part 1 (9-47)

Due

  • Group 2 Final Papers
  • Blog posts from groups 1 & 5

Week 7___________________________

Tuesday, February 20

Reading

  • Nella Larsen, Passing, Parts 2 and 3 (51-114)

Due

  • Group 4 Presentations
  • Group 3 Drafts
  • Blog posts from group 6

Thursday, February 22

Reading

  • William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (3-74)

Due

  • Blog Posts from Groups 7 & 1

Week 8_________________________

Tuesday, February 27

Reading

  • William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (75-179)

Due

  • Group 3 Final Papers
  • Group 4 Drafts
  • Blog posts from groups 2

Thursday, March 1

Reading

  • William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (179 – 261)

Due

  • Group 5 Presentations
  • Blog post from groups 6

Week 9_________________________

Tuesday, March 6–Note Schedule Change

Reading

  • Class Choice Discussion: Please re-read the Buell’s article “The Unkillable Dream of the Great American Novel” (“Readings” password = ENGL 356) and be ready to discuss both an expanded criteria you might consider for choosing our class-choice novel, and also specific ideas for such a novel. Given our “Aftershocks” theme, I’m open to any novel published post-1965 as long as it has an important relationship to conversations we might have about the GAN tradition.
  • Note that the readings from Giovanni’s Room have been moved to week 10, as have the blog posts for groups 1 and 2 that were originally due on this day.

Due

  • Group 4 Final Papers

Thursday, March 8

Activity

Due

  • Group 5 Drafts

Week 10_________________________

Tuesday, March 13

Reading

  • James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (3-71)

Due

Thursday, March 15

Reading

  • James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room (75-169)

Due

  • Group 6 Presentations
  • Group 5 Final Papers
  • Blog posts from group 7 & 2

In Class

  • Discuss and vote on “class choice” novel

Week 11________________________

Spring Break–no class Tuesday, March 20 & Thursday, March 22

Week 12______________________

Tuesday, March 27

Reading

  • Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (3-105–Prologue and Chapters 1-5)

Due

  • Blog Posts from Groups 1 & 2

Thursday, March 29

Reading

  • Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (136-195–Chapters 6-9)

Due

  • Group 6 Drafts
  • Blog posts from group 3 & 4

Week 13_________________________

Tuesday, April 3

Reading

  • Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (196-332–Chapters 10-15)

Due

  • Blog Posts from Groups 5 & 1

Thursday, April 5

Reading

  • Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (333-444–Chapters 16-20)

Due

  • Group 7 Presentations
  • Group 6 Final Papers
  • Blog posts from group 2

Week 14________________________

Tuesday, April 10

Reading

  • Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (445-581–Chapters 21-Epilogue)

Due

  • Blog post from group 3

Thursday, April 12

Readings

  • Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (1-83)

Due

  • Group 7 Drafts
  • Bonus Post

Week 15_________________________

Tuesday, April 17: Final Exam Preview and Prep

Readings

  • Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (84-184)
  • Final Exam

Due

  • Bonus Post

Thursday, April 19: Final Novel Discussion and Course-Instructor Evaluations 

Readings

  • Philip K. Dick, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (184-244)

Due

  • Group 7 Final Papers

 

*** Final Exam: Tuesday, May 1: 12:00 – 3:00 ***

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