Course Syllabus Course Information Course Number/Section HUSL 7360 / 501 Course Title The American Modernist Twenties Term fall 2012 Days & Times M 7-9:45 PM Professor Contact Information Professor Dr. Milton Cohen Office Phone 972-883-2029 Email Address mcohen@utdallas.edu Office Location JO 5.518 Office Hours T 6-7 PM, R, 11:15 AM-12 noon Course Description American modernism arrived belatedly in the 1920s, but with a vengeance. A new generation emerged, born in the 90s most of them, schooled on the slaughter and disillusionment of World War I, eager to build on the breakthroughs of the prewar modernists and to shock the American "booboisie," even from Paris. Our survey of this decade rounds up many of the usual suspects: Anderson, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Dos Passos, Cummings, Williams, Stevens, and Moore. A few are notably missing: Pound and Eliot had long since put America behind them; Lewis and Cather were not really modernists. And a few lesser known faces appear: Katherine Anne Porter, Hart Crane, and Jean Toomer. In modernist drama, O'Neill dominates (Desire Under the Elms, The Great God Brown), but we ll also read an expressionistic drama by Elmer Rice. Finally, xxx provides a scholarly overview of the period. other topics include: the expatriates, the little magazines, and American art and music in the 20s. Required Texts Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio (Norton critical edition) Hemingway, In Our Time (Simon & Schuster) Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (Norton critical edition) Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer (Marriner books) Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby Rice, The Adding Machine (Samuel French) Eugene O'Neill: Complete Plays 1920-1931 (Library of America) Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry, 3 rd ed., vol. 1 (Modern) Requirements Students will give an oral report (30-45 minutes) on an author or topic from the syllabus, and write a research paper (c. 15 pp.). Class participation is essential. Course Syllabus Page 1
Syllabus Wk. Date Topic/Readings (for specific poems see poetry page) 1. 8/27 Introduction to course What is modernism? 3 paths toward abstraction (handout) American modernism in the teens 9/03 Labor Day 2. 9/10 Revolt of the village Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio 3. 9/17 Expressionist and symbolist drama Rice, The Adding Machine O'Neill, Desire Under the Elms 4. 9/24 Expressionistic fiction Fitzgerald, Absolution (handout) ----------, The Great Gatsby 5. 10/01 Modernist poetry 1923: annus mirabilis Williams, from Spring and all (handout; see also poetry page) Cummings, from Tulips & Chimneys (see poetry page) 6. 10/08 Modernist poetry 1923 (continued) Cummings (continued); Cummings paintings in the 20s Stevens, from Harmonium (see poetry page) 7. 10/15 Modernist fiction: I Hemingway, In Our Time: "On the Quai at Smyrna," all "Chapters" between stories, L Envoi, "Indian Camp," "The Doctor and the Doctor's Wife" "The Battler" 8. 10/22 In Our Time: "Soldier's Home," "A Very Short Story, "Cat in the Rain," "Out of Season," "Cross-Country Snow," "Big Two-Hearted River: Parts I and II" Course Syllabus Page 2
9. 10/29 Masked drama O'Neill, The Great God Brown 10. 11/05 Modernist fiction: II Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer 11. 11/12 More modernist poetry Stevens (see poetry page) Moore (see poetry page) American modernist art and music in the 1920s: some samples 11/19 Fall Break 12. 11/26 Modernist fiction: III Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (Parts 1 and 2) 13. 12/03 Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury (Parts 3, 4, and Appendix) 14. 12/10 Porter, "Flowering Judas" (handout) Crane (see poetry page) Harlem Renaissance Toomer (see poetry page) Hughes (see poetry page) McKay (see poetry page) Course Syllabus Page 3
Poetry Assignments (in Norton Anthology unless specified) William Carlos Williams The Young Housewife Portrait of a Lady Death section from Spring and all (handout) Spring and All The Great Figure To Elsie The Botticellian Trees E. E. Cummings Buffalo Bill s the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls i was sitting in mcsorley s my sweet old etcetera i will be (handout) kitty (handout) Picasso (handout) Wallace Stevens Tea at the Palaz of Hoon The Snow Man Sunday Morning Peter Quince at the Clavier Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird Marianne Moore The Fish A Grave To a Snail Hart Crane Chaplinesque from The Bridge: "To Brooklyn Bridge," "Ave Maria" from "Powhatan's Daughter": The Harbor Dawn The Dance Jean Toomer all poems in Norton Anthology Course Syllabus Page 4
Langston Hughes The Weary Blues, When Sue Wears Red, Cross, Po Boy Blues handouts Claude McKay The Harlem Dancer If We Must Die Course Syllabus Page 5
Course Policies Syllabus Items on the syllabus (due dates, readings, etc.) are subject to change at the instructor's discretion. I ll try to email you regarding last minute changes. Please make sure your UTD email is working. Class Participation C.P. represents your active contribution to class discussion. Quality, not quantity, of contributions is what matters. Attendance I do take attendance, and your cumulative absences affect your class participation grade (see above). Leaving after the break in a long class may result in an absence recorded for that class. If you know you must leave early, let me know at the beginning of class. Tardiness Since class typically starts on time, if you come in late, you disturb not only the instructor and and your classmates, but the "flow" of the lesson. Coming in late while a student is presenting an oral report is even more disturbing. Secondary Research Required, of course, but it should never dominate your paper or control the discussion; your ideas should. Use s.r. to amplify your arguments, to provide contrasting views you will argue against, or (in your introduction) to suggest the range of critical opinion on your topic. Consider the source's potential validity (and respectability): scholarly books and journal articles have been peer-reviewed and are therefore more reliable (and usually more sophisticated) than material from personal websites on the internet. Use quotation marks for all material taken directly from a secondary source. For both quoted material and for paraphrased material, cite your source parenthetically immediately after the quoted or paraphrased material, using author's last name (or abbreviated book title) and page number: "xxxxx" (Smith 40). Briefly introduce quotations rather than beginning a sentence with one, e.g., Marvin Smith interprets the poem differently: (34). At the end of your paper add a "Works Cited" page with complete bibliographical data. See the MLA Handbook for correct form. Grading Typically, the final paper counts for about 60%, oral presentation and class participation about 40%. Please note: I use plus and minus in determining final grades. For general UTD course policies, click on: http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies Course Syllabus Page 6