the famous rabbit-duck pictureGregory Eiselein

American Literature

ENGL 270 | Sections A & B | Eisenhower Hall 228 | MWF 8:30 & 9:30 | Fall 2002
Gregory Eiselein | Phone: 532-0386 | E-mail: <eiselei@ksu.edu> | Office: Denison Hall 104
Office Hours: Mon & Wed 10:30-11:30, plus many more by appointment

Walt Whitman These States are the amplest poem,
Here is not merely a nation but a teeming Nation of nations ...

O I see flashing that this America is only you and me,
Its power, weapons, testimony, are you and me,
Its crimes, lies, thefts, defections, are you and me ...

Freedom, language, poems, employment, are you and me,
Past, present, future, are you and me.

I dare not shirk any part of myself,
Not any part of America good or bad.

—Walt Whitman, "By Blue Ontario's Shore"

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

—Emma Lazarus, "The New Colossus"

Course Description & Course Goals

Designed for undergraduate non-majors, ENGL 270 explores the diversity and thought-provoking strangeness of American literature. The course focuses on the study of selected American literary classics from different historical periods and in various genres—poems, short stories, novels, and plays (including a screenplay).

The over-arching goal of American Literature is to encourage and prepare you to become thoughtful lifelong readers of literary texts from U.S. traditions in writing. Although you will learn lessons useful in other courses and future employments, this course itself is not, strictly speaking, background information needed to study something else or training in a job skill. This course is preparation for the rest of your life; the focus of this course is you, not some other course, teacher, job, or boss.

To become excellent lifelong readers of American literature, you will need to learn and develop four particular abilities.

The Two Fundamental Skills

1. Explication: the ability to read a complex and subtle literary text, make sense of it, and explain your understanding of it to others.
2. Contextualization: the ability to use historical and cultural knowledge to enhance your understanding of a literary text.

The Two Higher-Level Skills

3. Appreciation: the ability to explain a text's significance and value.
4. Critical Thinking: the ability to think about and use what you've learned about a text in order to think about or do something else; the ability to connect a text to this something else; the ability to conceptualize, apply, analyze, synthesize, and/or evaluate what you've learned about a text as a guide to action or belief.

Emma LazarusWe're going to read American literary texts; figure out various ways to explain and interpret what's going on in them; use historical and cultural information to help translate them; learn ways of explaining to others the importance we find in them; and connect them to other aspects of our living and thinking.

In teaching these four skills, this course builds on the thinking and writing skills taught in Expository Writing: focus, organization, development, editing, and tone. If your writing skills are shaky and you've never taken Expository Writing or some other college composition course, you may want to take ENGL 100 along with or before American Literature. If you think you might need to transfer out of this course into a section of ENGL 100, please let me know.

Course Work & Course Policies

Reading, Participation, and Attendance. The key to doing well in a literature class is reading the texts carefully. Read the assignments attentively before coming to class and use the dictionary to look up words that are unfamiliar.

In addition to careful reading, I expect good attendance and active participation in class exercises and discussions. American Literature emphasizes active learning, student involvement, and student experiences. You will be at the center of the teaching and learning that happens during our open, student-centered class conversations and activities, and your attendance is absolutely essential to the learning that happens here.

Thus, I take roll religiously. I believe in class attendance. Irregular attendance will hurt your grade and may cause you to fail. I do understand that every once in a while circumstances may make it impossible for you to attend. If you miss one or two classes during the semester, don't worry about it. If you miss more than that, your attendance may hurt your grade. Students who miss six or more class sessions will receive zero points for attendance and participation (10% of your grade). Students who miss ten classes automatically fail the course. On the positive side, I reward good attendance and active class participation. Those who miss no sessions will receive five extra-credit points.

Sandra CisnerosAssignments and Grades. The writing in our course will consist of several short, informal (online and in-class) assignments and two longer projects—an appreciation essay and an independent project that asks you to demonstrate critical thinking. Each student will also serve on a three-person panel charged with leading class discussion for a day. Throughout the semester, I will distribute handouts explaining these assignments in more detail. The exams include a midterm and a comprehensive final. A total of 500 points will be available throughout the semester. In determining final grades, each course requirement carries the following weight:

Midterm Examination ....................................................................….........10%
Final Examination ...........................................................................…........20%
Appreciation Paper .............................................................................…...20%
Independent Project ...........................................................................…....20%
Informal Writing Assignments .............................................................…... 10%
Panel Assignment ...........................................................................….…...10%
Attendance and Participation ........................................................……......10%

Revisions. If you would like, you may revise once for a higher grade the Appreciation Essay and Independent Project. Each revision is due exactly one week after I return the initial draft.

A revision does not automatically receive a better grade. The revision must be substantially improved. It must demonstrate significant change in ideas and focus, arrangement and organization, or evidence and development. Simply correcting typos or making editing corrections will not change the grade.

To submit a revision, you need to:

1. Write a summary explaining why and how you revised—for example, how and why you decided to change the focus and organization; why you deleted or added a certain part; why and how you rearranged information; and so on.
2. Hand-in your revision, your original paper or project, and my original comments along with your summary explaining the changes.

Revisions that don't meet these criteria (arriving by the deadline, offering substantial change, providing a summary of changes, and enclosing the original version) will be returned unread

Tennessee WilliamsExtra-Credit and Make-Up Assignments. If you miss class on a day we do some in-class writing, you can make up the missed assignment by attending a poetry or fiction reading, a play, or a lecture related in some way to American culture and writing a review of the event. If you miss no in-class assignments, you may write such a review for extra-credit points. Such events will offer real-life experiences in explicating, contextualizing, appreciating, and critical thinking. During the semester I will announce as many of these events as I hear about. If you know of others, please tell the rest of us.

The first step is to attend such a reading, play, or lecture. Compose a brief summary of the event; describe what happened with details. Then give us your thoughtful opinion of the event: Did you enjoy it? What did you dislike about it? Was any particular part of the event moving, brilliant, or clever? What was it like to be there? The review should be about one (typed, double-spaced) page or so.

This assignment is worth five points: 5 is for one of the best reviews I ever read (I rarely award this score); 4 is for a detailed, specific, insightful review; 3 is the score I will award most often; 2 is for reviews that are pretty vague; and 1 is the score you will earn if I'm not sure you even attended the event. You may hand in as many as three reviews. You may turn in a review anytime before December 13. A maximum of 20 extra-credit points are available: 15 for reviews + 5 for perfect attendance.

Late Papers. I don't usually accept late papers, but in certain, limited circumstances I will accept papers after the due date. Assignments will lose a letter grade for every class period that they are late. I collect papers at the beginning of class on the due date.

Course Listserv. During the first couple weeks of class, I'll subscribe each member of the class to an ENGL 270 listerv using your K-State userid. I will then provide everyone with the listname.

The purpose of this listserv is to try out ideas and practice appreciation and critical thinking skills. For example, if you see a connection between Emma Lazarus's poetry and current debates about immigration, you might post your thoughts. If you think a particular book is especially meaningful or valuable or mind-blowing, you might explaining your reaction to the rest of the class. On the listserv, you earn points for trying out relevant ideas, but the presentation of those ideas need not be finished or highly polished.

During the semester, about once for each book, you will provide replies to posted prompts or questions; your responses will be counted as part of your informal writing assignments grade. You can also ask each other your own questions and share your own ideas and information; these responses will count as part of your participation grade. The only rule is this: all postings to the list should be related to our class in some way or another.

Every student is assigned a free K-State computing ID and password. The ID is automatically created and activated within 48 hours after tuition and class fees are paid, and it remains active until the student leaves K-State. Students can activate the ID themselves, by going to the Computing ID Activation page. If you need help, take a photo ID to the InfoTech Help Desk at 313 Hale Library. InfoTech Help can also be reached by phone at 532-7722 during business hours and by e-mail to <consult@ksu.edu>.

If you want to use a different e-mail address, you need to unsubscribe from your K-State address and then subscribe again from your other address. To do this, log on to the computer system with your K-State e-mail address and send mail to <listserv@ksu.edu> with this command format in the message:

UNSUB listname

Then log on with your other e-mail address and send a subscription command from that address to <listserv@ksu.edu> with the usual subscribe format:

SUB listname

If you have technical questions about using a listerv, you might want to check out K-State's listserv information page.

Toni MorrisonThe Honor Code. Kansas State University has an Honor Code, which stipulates that you should do all your academic work at the university individually. Do not collaborate on any academic work unless specifically approved by your instructor. On all of your assignments, exams, and other course work, the following pledge is implied, whether or not it is explicitly stated: "On my honor, as a student, I have neither given nor received unauthorized aid on this academic work."

Perhaps the most serious violation of the Honor Code in an English course is plagiarism—taking or copying someone else's words or ideas as if they were your own. Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses and may be punished by failure on the exam, paper, or project; the truly gnarly XF grade for the course; and/or expulsion from the university

Complete copies of the academic dishonesty policy are available in the Office of Student Activities and Services in the Union, or you may visit the Honor System web page. <www.ksu.edu/honor>.

Students with Disabilities. If you need special accommodation in this course for a verified learning or physical disability, please contact Disabled Student Services in Holton Hall, Room 202 (532-6441), so that they may assist you and me in making those arrangements.

Textbooks and Class Materials

Sherwood AndersonThe following texts are required and available at Claflin Books (1814 Claflin Road):

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (Norton Critical Edition, 2d Edition)
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women (Broadview)
Emma Lazarus, Selected Poems and Other Writings (Broadview)
Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio (Norton Critical Edition)
Tennessee Williams, Streetcar Named Desire (New American Library)
Toni Morrison, Sula (Penguin)
Sandra Cisneros, House on Mango Street (Vintage)
Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction (Talk Miramax Books)

In addition to the book we're currently reading, you'll want to bring to class each day paper, a pen or pencil, a 3.5" floppy disk (PC format), and your ID card (for printing). A good dictionary will be very useful to your work in this course, though you don't need to bring it to class.

Still from Pulp Fiction

Images on this Page

Header. The Famous Rabbit-Duck Picture

1. Walt Whitman

2. Emma Lazarus

3. Sandra Cisneros

4. Tennessee Williams

5. Toni Morrison

6. Sherwood Anderson

7. Still from Pulp Fiction

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This page was updated on 4 September 2002. Other pages on this site may have been updated more recently.
These pages are copyright © 1995-2002 Gregory Eiselein.