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MID-20TH CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE

LIT 3327-581
Summer 2005
Terje Saar-Hambazaza

Days/Time: Tuesdays and Thursdays 6-9pm

Location: SOM 2.901

Website for the announcements:

www.utdallas.edu/~terje

Office Hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 5-6pm and by an appointment

Office: JO 4.134
Phone: 972-883-2713

Email: txs018600@utdallas.edu

IMPORTANT NOTICE TO UTD STUDENTS: Beginning August 1, 2004, all email correspondence with
students will be sent ONLY to the student's U.T. Dallas email/netid address in an effort to protect the privacy
rights of all students.
U.T. Dallas furnishes each student a Network ID (netid) linked to an email account. The Department of
Information Resoursces provides a method for students to forward their UTD email to other personal or
business email accounts. To activate or maintain a UTD computer account and /or to set email forwarding
options, go to http://netid.utdallas.edu.

Course Description

I write with experiences in mind, but I don’t write about them, I write out of them. –
John Ashbery
This course is a survey of American literature from the 1910s to the 1960s. In order to
understand the development of American literature, we will read a selection of short
stories, poetry, and drama from an assigned anthology and look at the multiple, diverse
voices present in mid-20th century American literature. We will discuss the most
influential writers of this period and learn how they affected the development of 20th-
century American literature. We will also explore the poetry of Allen Ginsberg and Sylvia
Plath, plays by Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, and read Ralph
Ellison’s National Book Award winning novel Invisible Man.

Required texts:

Cain, William E., ed. American Literature, Volume II (Penguin Academics Series).
Longman, 2003. ISBN: 0321116240

Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. Vintage, 1995. ISBN: 0679732764

Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire. New Directions Publishing

Corporation, 2004. ISBN: 0811216020

Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman: Text and Criticism (Viking Critical Library).
Penguin Books, 1996. ISBN: 0140247734

O’Neill, Eugene. Long Day's Journey into Night. Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN:
0300093055
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Recommended texts (also available on reserve at UTD library):

Ginsberg, Allen. Howl, and Other Poems (Pocket Poets Series). City Lights Books, 40th
Anniversary edition, 1996. ISBN: 0872863107

Plath, Sylvia. Ariel. Perennial, 1999. ISBN: 0060931728.

Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 6th Ed. Modern
Language Association, 2003. ISBN: 0873529863

Course requirements:

Midterm and final: take home essays, questions given by the instructor in class (papers
must be formatted according to the MLA guidelines, and follow the conventions of the
academic writing)

Group presentation (30 minutes) with a 2-page paper: introduce one of the writers not
discussed in class

Quizzes, participation in discussions, attendance

Grading Policy

Midterm – 40%
Final – 40%
Oral Presentation (1) – 10%
Participation in class, quizzes, attendance – 10%

The following grade criteria indicate the possible grade based on the quality work done
in this class. Final decision about the grade for midterm as well as for the whole course is
made by the instructor.

A: Excellent participation in discussions, a highest quality and the promptness of the

written assignments, well-researched informative oral presentation, and in-depth,
correctly formatted midterm and final papers that effectively refer to the readings and
discussions in class.

B: Good participation in discussions, a consistently high quality of writing, including the

papers, informative oral presentation, and the promptness of the written assignments.

C: Fair (or average) participation in discussions, an average quality of the written

assignments, including papers, an average oral presentation, possibly more missed
classes than allowed.

D: Poor participation in discussions, a poor quality of writing, poorly delivered and

researched presentation, a poor quality of the critical papers, lacking the promptness of
written assignments and missing classes.

F: Fail the course, which means minimal participation in discussions, missing writing
assignments, possibly a missed presentation, and/or too many missed classes.
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Attendance Policy

Students are required to attend all classes, read assigned texts and participate in
discussions. Students who miss more than one class during the short summer semester
are subject to grade penalty. If you are absent, check with your classmates for any work
you missed that can be made up. Alternative assignments are not given; missed papers
and presentations are considered against the final grade. Tardiness is unacceptable, as
are coming to class unprepared, not paying attention during class, or sleeping in class.
Also, electronic devices for personal messaging, or entertainment cannot be used during
class. Please turn off cellular/mobile phones, pagers, and other personal electronic
devices before the class.

Office Hours

Office hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays 5-6pm. You can arrange additional
appointments to see me at other times. The best way to communicate with me is by email
(txs018600@utdallas.edu).

Plagiarism Policy

Plagiarism is a form of dishonesty when a person represents someone else’s work

intentionally or unintentionally as his or her own, and it is considered a serious offense.
Students should be familiar with how to avoid plagiarism by citing the sources properly
when quoting someone or paraphrasing another writer’s words. The university has
implemented serious consequences for individuals who plagiarize; they range from
failing the assignment to failing the course, or being expelled from the university. Also,
in the case of using someone else’s work, both parties involved in plagiarism (including
the student who makes his or her work available to another student) are equally guilty;
so students should not share their work with other students unless their instructor has
explicitly permitted it. Each incident of plagiarism at UTD will be reported to the
administration that makes a final decision for the appropriate penalty.
Additional information on plagiarism:
http://www.utdallas.edu/student/slife/dishonesty.html
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COURSE CALENDAR (subject to change at the discretion of the instructor)

NB! *** marks selected texts and page numbers in William E. Cain, American
Literature, Volume 2

Tuesday, May 31: Syllabus, Introduction

Thursday, June 2: American poetry in the 1920s

ASSIGNMENTS:
Ezra Pound*** “A Pact” (457), “In a Station of the Metro” (458), “The River-Merchant’s
Wife” (458)
T.S. Eliot*** “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (477), “Tradition and the Individual
Talent” (482), “The Waste Land” (490)
Marianne Moore*** “Poetry” (470), “A Grave” (473)
ee cummings*** “the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls” (582)
Langston Hughes*** “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (684), “Mother to Son” (685)
William Carlos Williams*** “The Red Wheelbarrow” (450), “Spring and All” (447), “The
Young Housewife” (446), “Portrait of a Lady” (446), “Death” (451)
Wallace Stevens*** “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” (422), “Anecdote of the
Jar” (422)

Tuesday, June 7: Prose and drama in the 1920s

ASSIGNMENTS:
Eugene O’Neill, Long Day’s Journey into Night
Ellison, Invisible Man, pp. 1-108

Thursday, June 9: Prose in the 1930s

ASSIGNMENTS:
William Faulkner*** “That Evening Sun” (627-642)
Richard Wright*** “Long Black Song” (700-722)

Tuesday, June 14: Poetry and drama in the 1930s

IN-CLASS FILM
ASSIGNMENTS:
Hart Crane*** “To Brooklyn Bridge” (676)
Langston Hughes*** “Let America Be America Again” (688)
Ellison, Invisible Man, pp. 109-230

Thursday, June 16: Prose and drama in the 1940s

ASSIGNMENTS:
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire
Midterm exam due

Tuesday, June 21: Drama and poetry in the 1940s

ASSIGNMENTS:
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman, pp. 7-139, read also pp. 155-171
Theodore Roethke*** “My Papa’s Waltz” (1282), “Night Crow” (1284), “I Knew a
Woman” (1284)
Robert Lowell*** “Mr. Edwards and the Spider” (1323), “Memories of West Street and
Lepke” (1325), “For the Union Dead” (1329)
Ellison, Invisible Man, pp. 231-260
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Thursday, June 23: Poetry in the 1950s

ASSIGNMENTS:
Allen Ginsberg, Howl and Other Poems
Richard Wilbur*** “Years-End” (1340), “Love Calls Us to the Things of This World”
(1341)
Denise Levertov*** “In Mind” (1352), “September 1961” (1353)
Robert Creeley*** “For Love” (1372), “The Messengers” (1374)

Tuesday, June 28: Prose in the 1950s

ASSIGNMENTS:
James Baldwin*** “Notes of a Native Son” (897-916)
Bernard Malamud*** “The Mourners” (870-876)
Ellison, Invisible Man, pp. 261-355

Thursday, June 30: America in the 1960s, drama in the 1960s

ASSIGNMENTS:
Amiri Baraka*** Dutchman (1001-1018)

Tuesday, July 5: Prose in the 1960s

ASSIGNMENTS:
Martin Luther King Jr.*** “I Have a Dream” (937-940)
Flannery O’Connor*** “Revelation” (917-935)
Ellison, Invisible Man, pp. 356-461

Thursday, July 7: Poetry in the 1960s

ASSIGNMENTS:
Sylvia Plath, Ariel
John Berryman*** From The Dream Songs: 40, 45, 385 (1318-1320)
Ellison, Invisible Man, pp. 462-478

Tuesday, July 12: Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (1952)

ASSIGNMENTS:
Ellison, Invisible Man, pp. 479-581

Thursday, July 14: Ellison, Invisible Man; Presentations

Tuesday, July 19: Presentations; Summing Up

Friday, July 22: Final exam/take home essay due at 12pm in my office