LTE102:  U.S. Canon, 1900—Present  [UCSC]

LTEL-102D:  U.S. Canon, 1900—Present

MWF 3:30-- 4:40PM, Kresge Clrm 327

Winter 2006

Professor Daniel Vukovich

Phone:  459 5341 (message phone:  459-2781)         Office:  Kresge, Room 174

Email:  dfvukov@ucsc.edu                                        Office Hours:  Monday, 5-6:30

Discussion Section Instructors:

Terry Solomon-Tilley, tsolomon@ucsc.edu

            Wednesday Section (01A):  09:30AM-10:40AM,  Kresge Clrm 323

James Ramsey Wallen, jwallen@ucsc.edu

            Tuesday Section (01B):  10:00AM-11:10AM,  Kresge Clrm 323

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course surveys American literature in several genres from 1900 to the present, with a particular emphasis on poetry. It aims to acquaint students with some of the major movements, authors, and issues of twentieth-century literature in the U.S. We will focus a good deal on the interaction between literature and history, seeing how authors have responded to important historical events and how they have contributed to major social and intellectual developments in the U.S. and the world. Among other topics, we will examine literary realism, modernism, and postmodernism; the world wars, including the Cold War and Vietnam; the long-standing, contentious and rich dialogue on the meaning of America and “the” American experience; and the search for a literary form adequate to the complexity, tragedy and possibilities of modern life.

Some of the historical and cultural background will be provided through lecture, but we will try and have our texts themselves transport us through this history and lived experience. The course, then, requires extensive reading and re-reading, several writing assignments that place you in close dialogue with one or several authors and events, and active participation in discussion section and lecture.    

REQUIRED TEXTS:

The Heath Anthology of American Literature, VOLUME D:  The Modern Period, 1910--1945. Ed. Paul Lauter et al.

The Heath Anthology of American Literature, VOLUME E:  The Contemporary Period, 1945--.

Ed. Paul Lauter et al.

Both required volumes are available at Bay Tree Bookstore on campus. YOU MUST BRING THE ASSIGNED TEXT TO EACH CLASS AND SECTION. 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS and ASSIGNMENTS:

Students must complete all assignments in order to pass the course. Late work is not accepted.  If you need an extension for a particular assignment, you must see your TA one week in advance, and must commit to a new due date. Unless otherwise instructed, turn in your assignments at the discussion section of that week. Full details of the assignments will be handed out in class.    

1. Essay #1:  4-5 pages.  20% of final grade.  DUE:  Week 6.

2. Essay # 2:  8-10 pages.  40% of final grade.  DUE:  Tuesday, 3/21.

Specific instructions for both essays will be given in class.   

3. Response Papers.  30% of final grade (combined).  DUE:  Weeks 4, 8, and 10.

3 papers of 2 pages (min.) in length. I’ll assign these in class, and you’ll explore topics and questions that come out of class discussion and lecture.

4. Participation.  10% of final grade.  DUE:  Each class.

Expected and much appreciated, your participation includes carefully reading the assigned texts on time.

Attendance:  Attendance in lecture and section is mandatory. You are allowed to miss a total of two classes (of any combination). For each subsequent absence your final grade will be docked by one full letter (e.g., from B to C). Excused absences require official, university documentation.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE:

*Be sure to read the brief but valuable headnotes to each particular author.  Some of my own lectures will draw on the following pages of the anthologies, so I recommend that you read them at your own leisure: Vol. D:  839-67, 1108, 1487, 1634-5; Vol. E:  1883-91, 2345-54.

** We will switch to Volume E of the Heath anthology during the 7th week, on 2/7. 

Week 1:  Canons and Contexts        

            FR, 1/6:  Course Introduction. 

Week 2:  Towards the Modern Age, I.

M, 1/9:  W.E.B. Du Bois, from The Souls of Black Folk and “The Song of the Smoke,” pp.

894-902; 911-918 AND Edna St. Vincent Millay, pp. 1099-1107.

      W, 1/11:  Theodore Dreiser, “The Second Choice,” pp. 1085-1099.

F,  1/13:  Sherwood Anderson, “Hands” and “Death in the Woods,” pp. 1072-1084.

Week 3:  Towards the Modern Age, II. 

M, 1/16:  HOLIDAY, NO CLASS

W, 1/18:  Edith Wharton, “Souls Belated,” “The Other Two,” and “Roman

Fever,” pp. 962-4, 965-96, 1019-1027.   GUEST LECTURE, by Terry Solomon-

Tilley.

            F, 1/20:  Robert Frost, poems, pp. 1058-1071.

Week 4:  Alienation and Experimentation, I.

DUE:  RESPONSE  PAPER #1

M, 1/23:  Ezra Pound, poems, pp. 1109-1131.

W, 1/25:  William Carlos Williams, poems, pp. 1157-1175.

F, 1/27:  T.S. Eliot, poems, pp. 1278—1312.

Week 5:  Alienation and Experimentation, II.   

M, 1/30:  Wallace Stevens, poems, pp. 1426—1476.

W, 2/1:  Gertrude Stein, poetry and prose, pp. 1145--1156.

            F, 2/3:  “Cluster:  Modernism, the Lyric, and Facts” (Williams, Fearing, Hughes, Moore,

Stevens, Reznikoff, Snyder), pp. 1313—1323.

Week 6:  Literature and Political Modernism, I.

DUE:  ESSAY #1 (4-5 PAGES)

M, 2/6:  “Cluster:  Political Poetry in the Modern Period” (Kalar, Fearing, Hayes, Olsen,

Boyle, Hughes, Ridge, Rolfe, Taggard), pp. 1235—1268.

W, 2/8:  F. Scott Fitzgerald, “May Day” and “The Diamond as Big as the Ritz,” pp.

1324—1386.

F, 2/10:  Langston Hughes, poems and prose, pp. 1519—1549.

Week 7:  Literature and Political Modernism, II.

M, 2/13:  Claude McKay, poems, pp. 1594—1600 AND Richard Wright, “Bright and

Morning Star” and “Between the World and Me,” pp. 1807—1835. 

W, 2/15:   John Dos Passos, from U.S.A., pp. 1675—1687.

F, 2/17:   BEGIN VOLUME E (CONTEMPORARY).  Tillie Lerner Olsen, “Tell Me a

Riddle,” pp. 1971—1998.

Week 8:  Cold War Culture and its Discontents, I.

DUE:  RESPONSE #2 (2 PAGES)

M, 2/20:  HOLIDAY, NO CLASS.

W, 2/22:  Arthur Miller, The Crucible, pp. 2051—2126.

 F, 2/24:  Allan Ginsberg, poems, pp. 2229—2243. 

Week 9:  Cold War Culture and its Discontents, II.

M, 2/27:  Muriel Rukeyser, poems, pp. 1998—2005 AND Theodore Roethke, poems, pp.

1904—1917.

W, 3/1:  Adrienne Rich, poems, pp. 2321—2330 AND Sylvia Plath, poems, pp. 2330—

2340.

F, 3/3:  Thomas Pynchon, “Entropy” pp. 2566--2577.  GUEST LECTURE, by James

Ramsey Wallen.

Week 10:  “Post-” or “Late-” Modernism?, I. 

DUE:  RESPONSE #3 (2 PAGES)

M, 3/ 6:  Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones), poems and Dutchman, pp. 2498—2525.

            W, 3/8:  Raymond Carver, from Cathedral (“A Small Good Thing”), pp. 2585—2601. 

            F, 3/10:  Karen Yamashita, from Tropic of Orange (“2. Benefits – Koreatown”), pp.

2937—2941 AND Frank Chin, “Railroad Standard Time,” pp. 2646—2652.

Week 11:  “Post-” or “Late-” Modernism?, II.

M, 3/13:  “A Sheaf of Vietnam Conflict Poetry and Prose” (Herr, O’Brien, Mailer, Bly,

Komunyakaa, Levertov), pp. 2382—2431.

W, 3/15:  Toni Morrison, “Recitatif,” pp. 2437—2451. 

LAST CLASS:  FINAL LECTURE and EVAL’S. 

FINALS WEEK: Tuesday, 3/21:  FINAL ESSAYS DUE (8-10 PAGES).  Details t.b.a.