Reading Assignments

Engl. 772-01 Period in Literature:
American Realism

Spring Semester 2011

MWF 10:00-11:50, Grubbs Hall 312

Dr. Nichols, knichols11@cox.net

Reading Schedule

Week One

Jan. 19

Introduction

REALISM, REGIONALISM, NATURALISM

Jan. 21

Historical Context, vii-xx (in Realism Reader).
Whitman, from Drum Taps: "From Paumanok Starting"; "Cavalry Crossing a Ford"; "Vigil Strange I Kept on the Field"; "A Sight in Camp"; "Look Down, Fair Moon"; "Reconciliation" (online).
Stephen Crane, A Mystery of Heroism (online)
Outside reading: Mark Twain, Huck Finn Ch. I-X, 101-34 (in Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter 7th Edition, Vol. 2). Finish by 1/31.

Week Two

Jan. 24

Constance Woolson, "Rodman the Keeper" 47-71 (in Realism Reader)
Continue reading Mark Twain, Huck Finn Ch. XI-XVII, 134-73.

Jan. 26

Literary Context, xx - xxvii (in Realism Reader)
William Dean Howells, "Editha" 412-424 (in Realism Reader).
Continue reading Mark Twain, Huck Finn, XVIII-XXV, 173-213.

Jan. 28

Literary Context, xxvii - xxxii (in Realism Reader)
Frank Norris, "A Deal of Wheat" 514-524 (in Realism Reader).
Continue reading Mark Twain, Huck Finn, Ch. XXIX-XXXIII, 213-50.
ASSIGN SHORT PAPER (Twain): due Mon., 2/7. See paper directions (online).

Week Three

Jan. 31

Stephen Crane, "The Blue Hotel," 322-346 (in Realism Reader)
Finish Mark Twain, Huck Finn, Ch. XXXIV--CHAPTER THE LAST, 250-87.

Feb. 02

William F. Byrne, Realism, Romanticism, and Politics in Mark Twain (online).

Feb. 04

"Introduction: Realism and 'Absent Things in American Life,'" in Amy Kaplan, The Social Construction of American Realism, pp. 1-14 (on Library Reserve or in instructor's office).

Week Four

Feb. 07

SHORT PAPER DUE: Twain--4-5 pp
George Washington Cable, "Belles Demoiselles Plantation" 32-46 (in Realism Reader)

Feb. 09

Sarah Orne Jewett, Country of the Pointed Firs--read 1/3.
TAKE-HOME EXAM #1 ASSIGNED: Due Wed., 2/16.

Feb. 11

Sarah Orne Jewett, Country of the Pointed Firs--read 2/3.

Week Five

Feb. 14

Sarah Orne Jewett, Country of the Pointed Firs--finish. 1 report on Jewett criticism (3-4 pp). See report directions (online).

Feb. 16

TAKE-HOME EXAM #1 DUE. No class. Slide hard-copy under my office door (Grubbs 450) or e-mail it to me as a .doc or .rtf file at knichols11@cox.net.

Feb. 18

Kate Chopin, The Awakening--read 1/4.

Week Six

Feb. 21

Kate Chopin, The Awakening--read 1/2.

Feb. 23

Kate Chopin, The Awakening--read 3/4.

Feb. 25

Kate Chopin, The Awakening--finish. 2 reports on Chopin criticism (3-4pp). See report directions (online).

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVES: URBAN ENVIRONMENTS

Week Seven

Feb. 28

Stephen Crane, "Experiment in Misery," 457-465 (in Realism Reader)
Begin reading Stephen Crane, Maggie, A Girl of the Streets

Mar. 02

Stephen Crane, Maggie, A Girl of the Streets--finish. 1 report on Crane criticism. See report directions (online).

Mar. 04

Jacob Riis, Selections from How the Other Half Lives (online)--Introduction; Chap. 17 The Street Arab; Chap. 18 The Reign of Rum; and Chap. 20 The Working Girls in the Tenements.
Jane Addams, Biographical Sketch. Selections from Twenty Years at Hull House-- Ch. 3:Boarding School Ideals and Ch. 4 The Snare of Preparation and Ch. 5 First Days at Hull-House (online).

Week Eight

Mar. 07

Thorstein Veblen, Conspicuous Consumption (online).
Edith Wharton, House of Mirth

Mar. 09

Edith Wharton, House of Mirth

Mar. 11

Edith Wharton, House of Mirth. 1 report on Wharton criticism. See report directions (online).
TAKE-HOME EXAM #2 ASSIGNED: Due Friday, 3/18

Week Nine

Mar. 14

Edith Wharton, House of Mirth.

Mar. 16

Edith Wharton, House of Mirth. 1 reports on Wharton criticism. See report directions (online).
The Naturalism of Edith Wharton's 'House of Mirth'

Mar. 18

TAKE-HOME EXAM #2 DUE (no class). Slide hard-copy under my office door (Grubbs 450) or e-mail it to me as a .doc or .rtf file at knichols11@cox.net.

Week Ten

Mar. 21-25

SPRING BREAK (no class)

Week Eleven

Mar. 28

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie

Mar. 30

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie

Apr. 01

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie
PAPER ASSIGNED: Dreiser. Due: Wed., 4/27. See paper directions (online).

Week Twelve

Apr. 04

Poetry in the Age of Realism: Emily Dickinson, #67 Success is counted Sweetest; #444 It feels a shame to be Alive; #249 Wild Nights! Wild Nights!; #303 The Soul selects; #508 I'm ceded--I've stopped; #732 She rose to His Requirements; #318 I'll tell you how the Sun rose; #328 A Bird came down the Walk; #258 There's a certain Slant of light; #301 I reason, Earth is short #742 Four Trees; #675 Essential Oils (online).
Continue reading Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie

Apr. 06

Poetry in the Age of Realism: Emma Lazarus, The Colossus and Echoes (online).
Stephen Crane, God fashioned the ship of the world; There was set before me; Do not weep, maiden; A man said to the universe (online).
Edward Arlington Robinson, Richard Corey; Mr. Flood's Party (online).
Sarah Morgan Piatt, Giving Back the Flower--scroll down the page; The Palace-Burner (online).
Sarah N. Cleghorn, The Mother Follows; The Incentive; The Golf Links (online).
Paul Laurence Dunbar, "We Wear the Mask"; "Sympathy"; When Mirandy Sings (online)
Continue reading Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie--complete over 1/2 of the novel.

Apr. 08

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie

Week Thirteen

Apr. 11

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie

Apr. 13

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie

Apr. 15

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie--finish the novel.

Week Fourteen

Apr. 18

VIDEO: Henry James, Wings of the Dove

Apr. 20

VIDEO: Henry James, Wings of the Dove

Apr. 22

VIDEO: Henry James, Wings of the Dove

RACE ISSUES AND REALITIES

Week Fifteen

Apr. 25

Intro and poems: Native American Revitalist Visions -- Introduction and the Sioux, Kiowa, Paiute Ghost Dance Songs (online).
Charles A. Eastman (Ohiyesa), biography. Selection from From the Deep Woods to Civilization: Chapters in the Autobiography of an Indian, Chap. 7: The Ghost Dance War (online).

Apr. 27

PAPER #2 DUE (Dreiser)--8-9 pp., 2 secondary sources.
Zitkala-Sa [Gertrude Bonnin], "The Trial Path," 391-395 (in Realism Reader)
John Oskison, "The Problem of Old Harjo," 531-537 (in Realism Reader)

Apr. 29

Booker T.Washington, selection from Up from Slavery (online), Ch. I: A slave among slaves, Ch. III: The struggle for an education, Ch. VI: Black race and red race.

Week Sixteen

May 02

Booker T.Washington, selection from Up from Slavery (online), Ch. XIV: The Atlanta Exposition address.
W.E.B. DuBois, selection from The Souls of Black Folk (online), Chapter I: "Of Our Spriritual Strivings" and Chapter 3: "Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others."
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, biography and Lynch Law in America --from The Arena, January 1900 (online).

May 04

Charles W. Chestnut, "The Sheriff's Children," 170-185 and "The Wife of his Youth," 280-290 (in Realism Reader).
Paul Laurence Dunbar, "The Lynching of Jube Benson" 524-31 (in Realism Reader).
TAKE-HOME EXAM ASSIGNED. Due: Wed., 5/11

May 06

Sui Sin Far, "Mrs. Spring Fragrance," 438-448 (in Realism Reader) and "In the Land of the Free" 545-51 (in Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter 7th Edition, Vol. 2).

FINAL: TAKE-HOME EXAM #2--due Wed., May 11 (no class). You may slide your exam under my office door (Grubbs 450) or email it to me as a .docor .rtf file: knichol11@cox.net.