Prof. Schaub's Syllabus
Representing Home: Theme and Variations on an Idea
English 169 is an introduction to 20th century American literature in several
genres: novels, plays, poetry, and short stories. The course aims to enhance appreciation for a range of literature by teaching concepts and skills basic to literary analysis and
interpretation. Because writing fosters (and requires) thinking, you will have the opportunity to develop your own ideas about the course material in a variety of writing assignments. Since much of your study at the university involves the reading of written texts, this course should have carry-over value for your success in courses in other fields, even though this class is designed specifically as an introduction to the study of modern American literature.
Our lecture series and sections will focus on ideas and performances of “home”—as place of origin and retreat as wells destination and place of final rest, of region and nation, of nature and cosmos. Understood in these ways, “home” becomes an idea at once philosophical, psychological and political. The texts selected for the course show how ideas about “home” appear (or are represented) in culture, as an organizing device of plot, theme, and image, as motivation in character, and as a significant background or scene. As this sketch suggests, “home” is a vital figure or trope for our lives and one in which each of us has a stake.
Requirements
Assigned reading completed prior to lecture
Regular attendance at lectures and section meetings
In section: active participation in discussion 20%
Two papers: one short, one longer 15% and 25%
Midterm 20%
Final Exam 20%
Require
Ernest Hemingway: In Our Time
William Faulker: The Sound and the Fury
Richard Wright: Native Son
Philip Roth: Goodbye,
Fae Myenne Ng: Bone
January 22 M Introduction
THE MODERNIST HOME
24 W Ernest Hemingway: In Our Time (1925)
“On the Quai at
“Indian Camp”
29 M “Chapter II,” “The Doctor and the Doctor’s Wife”
“The End of Something,” and “Three-Day Blow”
31 W “Soldier’s Home”
February 5 M “Big
“April Seventh, 1928”
12 M “April Seventh, 1928”
14 W “June Second, 1910”
19 M “June Second, 1910”
21 W *Finish Quentin section/begin Jason chapter (ie tomorrow)*
26 M *Jason and Chapter 4*”
28 W *Finish Sound and the Fury*
HOME AND RACE AT MID-CENTURY
* *
*March* 5 M Richard Wright: Native Son (1940)
“Fear”
7 W “Fear” and “Flight” pp 97-116
12 M “Flight”
14 W “Fate” and "How Bigger Was Born" 433-62
19 M Lorraine Hansberry: Raisin in the Sun (1958), Act One
21 W Act Two and Act Three
26 M Finish Raisin and discuss Mid-term
28 W *Midterm*
* Spring Break March 31-April 8*
MOVIN’ ON UP
April 9 M Philip Roth: Goodbye,
11 W Goodbye,
THE SELF IN THE WAR AT HOME
16 M W.
Yusef Komunyakaa: from Dien Cai Dau (1988)
18 W Robert Lowell: “Waking Early Sunday Morning” (1967)
HOME AND NATURE
23 M Scott Momaday: House Made of Dawn
25 W House Made of Dawn
30 M House Made of Dawn
THE HYBRID HOME: IMMIGRATION
May 2 W Fae Myenne Ng: Bone (1993)
7 M Bone
9 W Bone
May Final Examination
