E222 American Literature Presentations, Fall 2014 – Alfred J. Drake's Academic Site

PRESENTATIONS FOR E222 AMERICAN LITERATURE
CSU FULLERTON, FALL 2014

Most sessions will feature one or more student presentations that will give you a chance to hear different perspectives on the course readings, and I will also post the written versions students send me to a special blog so those interested can review them. Your presentations will also help me determine the direction my own comments, encouraging me to respond to your ideas rather than lecture continuously. See the syllabus for the presentation requirement’s value as a percentage of the course grade.

1. On the first day of class, look over the authors or texts on our syllabus and then, next to your name on the roll sheet I will pass around, suggest several authors or texts that you might like to present on. I’ll try to give you the choices you have made, to the extent that the schedule permits. Depending on class size, each student will give two or three presentations. Be aware that if you choose only very popular authors or texts (Jane Austen, Hamlet, etc.), I may need to schedule you for something different.

2. Within a few days, check the schedule on this page to see when and on which authors and questions you are slated to present. I will complete the schedule by choosing specific question/s to be addressed from among the full sets. You can access all author questions using the links below or by visiting the QUESTIONS PAGE. (They are also available from the syllabus and journals pages.)

Insightful responses are better than “answers”. I encourage you in advance to develop your remarks so that they go beyond the question at its simplest. The office hour (or email consultation for second and subsequent presentations, if any) and “advance final draft” requirement is 30% of your grade for the presentation.

It’s easy to do well if you prepare in advance and make a good effort, and your colleagues will be supportive. Completing the in-class component is 70% of the grade for each presentation.

5. Please check the schedule below on this page to verify the current status of your in-class presentation and blog entry. Within a few days after you’ve completed both, next to your name should appear the notation (Presentation completed). If you see other notations as indicated below in “How I Evaluate Presentations,” please contact me by email.

HOW I EVALUATE PRESENTATIONS

I will judge presentations on the following grounds: did the student 1) meet with me or email me a timely advance final draft so that I can offer advice and determine the course of my own comments? and 2) seem to have put genuine effort into preparing rather than treating the presentation as a barren “answer” to a stale question. Students who do those two things will receive an “A” for the presentations requirement. I am not going to grade presentations so much on in-class factors as on how well students prepare and (again, if necessary) follow up. I will indicate whether students have completed the requirements: (Presentation completed), (Missed Presentation), (Rescheduled Presentation.)

MISSED PRESENTATIONS / RESCHEDULING PRESENTATIONS

If you find that you will be unable to make it to class for one of your scheduled presentations, please let me know in advance if possible. So long as you have provided me with a timely advance draft of your remarks (I usually print them out and bring them to class), I will read the presentation for you and give you partial credit for the “in-class” portion of the presentation grade. If you haven’t provided me with a final advance draft, I will not read it in class. In such cases, rescheduling on a new author or text may be possible at my discretion and if the schedule allows.

QUESTION SETS FOR JOURNALS AND PRESENTATIONS

WEEK 1

M. 08/25. Course Introduction.

W. 08/27. Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Whitman’s “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom’d” (Vol. C 79-85). Dickinson’s “320” (Vol. C 97); “340” (Vol. C 99); “448” (Vol. C 102); “479” (Vol. C 102-03); “591” (Vol. C 103-04); “598” (Vol. C 104); “620” (Vol. C 104); “764” (Vol. C 107); “1263” (Vol. C 108); “1668” (Vol. C 108).

WEEK 2

M. 09/01. Labor Day Holiday, No Classes.

W. 09/03. Mark Twain. From Letters from the Earth (Vol. C 336-51).

WEEK 3

M. 09/08. Henry James. “Daisy Miller” (Vol. C 421-59).

W. 09/10. Henry James. “Daisy Miller” (Vol. C 421-59). We will also watch part of a film production.

WEEK 4

M. 09/15. Kate Chopin. The Awakening (Vol. C Chapters 1-15, 561-597).

Kate Chopin. Any question adapted to cover a section within Chapters 1-7. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Kate Chopin. Any question adapted to cover a section within Chapters 8-15. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 09/17. Kate Chopin. The Awakening (Vol. C Chapters 16-25, 597-622).

Kate Chopin. Any question adapted to cover a section within Chapters 16-20. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

WEEK 5

M. 09/22. Kate Chopin. The Awakening (Vol. C Chapters 26-39, 622-52).

Kate Chopin. Any question adapted to cover a section within Chapters 26-32. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 09/24. Jack London. From “What Life Means to Me” (Norton Vol. D 917-20). From Tales of the Pacific (Penguin edition): “The House of Mapuhi” (31-53).

JOURNAL SET 1 DUE BY EMAIL MONDAY 09/29. (Reminder: this set includes Whitman through Chopin. I will verify receipt by email within a few days.)

WEEK 6

M. 09/29. Jack London. From Tales of the Pacific (Penguin edition): “Koolau the Leper” (135-50); “The Bones of Kehekili” (151-73).

Jack London. Any question on “Koolau the Leper.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Jack London. Any question on “The Bones of Kehekili.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 10/01. Robert Frost. “The Figure a Poem Makes” (Vol. D 250-52); “Mowing” (Vol. D 231-32); “Mending Wall” (Vol. D 232-33); “The Death of the Hired Man” (Vol. D 233-37); “The Wood-Pile” (Vol. D 241); “The Road Not Taken” (Vol. D 241-42).

Robert Frost. Any question on “The Figure a Poem Makes.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Robert Frost. Any question on one of today’s assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

WEEK 7

M. 10/06. Robert Frost. “Birches” (Vol. D 242-44); “Out, Out—” (Vol. D 244); “Fire and Ice” (Vol. D 245); “Nothing Gold Can Stay” (Vol. D 245); “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (Vol. D 245); “Desert Places” (Vol. D 246); “Design” (Vol. D 246); “The Gift Outright” (Vol. D 248).

Robert Frost. Any question on one of today’s assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 10/08. Carl Sandburg and William Carlos Williams. Sandburg’s “Chicago” (Vol. D 279-80); “Fog” (Vol. D 280); “Cool Tombs” (Vol. D 280-81); “Grass” (Vol. D 281). From Williams’ Spring and All (Vol. D 346-47); Poems: “Queen-Anne’s Lace” (Vol. D 305); “Spring and All” (Vol. D 306-07); “To Elsie” (Vol. D 307-09); “The Red Wheelbarrow” (Vol. D 309); “The Dead Baby” (Vol. D 309-10); “This Is Just to Say” (Vol. D 310); “A Sort of a Song” (Vol. D 310); “Burning the Christmas Greens” (Vol. D 311-13); “Landscape with the Fall of Icarus” (Vol. D 313).

Carl Sandburg. Any question on one of Sandburg’s assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. C. Williams. Any question on one of W.C. Williams’s assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (No Presentation.)

WEEK 8

M. 10/13. T. S. Eliot. “The Waste Land” (Vol. D 378-91).

T. S. Eliot. Any question on Part 1 of “The Waste Land.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

T. S. Eliot. Any question on Part 2 or 3 of “The Waste Land.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

T. S. Eliot. Any question on Part 4 or 5 of “The Waste Land.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 10/15. Wallace Stevens. “The Snow Man” (Vol. D 283-84); “Disillusionment of Ten O’Clock” (Vol. D 285); “Sunday Morning” (Vol. D 285-88); “Anecdote of the Jar” (Vol. D 288-89); “Peter Quince at the Clavier” (Vol. D 289-90); “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” (Vol. D 291-92); “The Idea of Order at Key West” (Vol. D 293-94); “Of Modern Poetry” (Vol. D 294); The Plain Sense of Things” (Vol. D 295).

Wallace Stevens. Any question on one of the first five assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Wallace Stevens. Any question on one of the last four assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

JOURNAL SET 2 DUE BY EMAIL FRIDAY 10/26. (Reminder: this set includes London through Stevens. I will verify receipt by email within a few days.)

WEEK 9

M. 10/20. E.E. Cummings. “Thy fingers make early flowers of” (Vol. D 638); “in Just-” (Vol. D 638-39); “O sweet spontaneous” (Vol. D 639-40); “Buffalo Bill’s” (Vol. D 640); “the Cambridge ladies who live in furnished souls” (Vol. D 640); “next to of course god america i” (Vol. D 641); “i sing of Olaf glad and big” (Vol. D 641-42); “somewhere i have never travelled,gladly beyond” (Vol. D 642-43); “anyone lived in a pretty how town” (Vol. D 643-44); “my father moved through dooms of love” (Vol. D 644-45); “pity this busy monster,manunkind” (Vol. D 646).

E. E. Cummings. Any question on one of the 1st through 4th assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

E. E. Cummings. Any question on one of the 5th through 8th assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 10/22. Ernest Hemingway. “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (Vol. D 826-42).

Ernest Hemingway. Any question adapted to cover part of the first half of “Kilimanjaro.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Ernest Hemingway. Any question adapted to cover part of the second half of “Kilimanjaro.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

WEEK 10

M. 10/27. Langston Hughes. From “The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain” (Vol. D 348-50); All Poems (Vol. D 871-80): “The Negro Speaks of Rivers” (Vol. D 871); “Mother to Son” (Vol. D 871-72); “I, Too” (Vol. D 872); “The Weary Blues” (Vol. D 872-73); “Mulatto” (Vol. D 873-74); “Song for a Dark Girl” (Vol. D 874-75); “Genius Child” (Vol. D 875); “Visitors to the Black Belt” (Vol. D 875-76); “Note on Commercial Theatre” (Vol. D 876); “Vagabonds” (Vol. D 876-77); “Words Like Freedom” (Vol. D 877); “Madam and Her Madam” (Vol. D 877-78); “Freedom {1}” (Vol. D 878); “Madam’s Calling Cards” (Vol. D 878-79); “Silhouette” (Vol. D 879); “Theme for English B” (Vol. D 880).

Langston Hughes. Any question on the critical piece “The Negro Artist …” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Langston Hughes. Any question on one of the first eight assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (No Presentation.)

Langston Hughes. Any question on one of the final eight assigned poems. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 10/29. William Faulkner. As I Lay Dying (Vol. D 698-730, i.e. first 1/3).

William Faulkner. Any question adapted to suit a brief section of today’s page range – i.e. the first 1/3 of the novel. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

WEEK 11

M. 11/03. William Faulkner. As I Lay Dying (Vol. D 731-62, i.e. second 1/3).

William Faulkner. Any question adapted to suit a brief section of today’s page range – i.e. the second 1/3 of the novel. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 11/05. William Faulkner. As I Lay Dying (Vol. D 762-793, last 1/3).

William Faulkner. Any question adapted to suit a brief section of today’s page range – i.e. the final 1/3 of the novel. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

WEEK 12

M. 11/10. Tennessee Williams. A Streetcar Named Desire (Film production: Marlon Brando/Vivien Leigh/Kim Hunter, 1951, first 65 of 122 minutes).

W. 11/12. Tennessee Williams. A Streetcar Named Desire (Film production: Marlon Brando/Vivien Leigh/Kim Hunter, 1951, remaining 57 of 122 minutes).

WEEK 13

M. 11/17. Tennessee Williams. A Streetcar Named Desire (Vol. E 93-55, Scenes 1-11).

Tennessee Williams. Any question chosen from the ones on Scenes 1-3. STUDENT NAME. (No Presentation.)

Tennessee Williams. Any question chosen from the ones on Scenes 4-7. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Tennessee Williams. Any question chosen from the ones on Scenes 8-11. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 11/19. John Cheever. “The Swimmer” (Vol. E 157-65).

John Cheever. Any question chosen from the ones on the first half of the story. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

JOURNAL SET 3 DUE BY EMAIL MONDAY 11/24. (Reminder: this set includes Cummings through T. Williams. I will verify receipt by email within a few days.)

PARAGRAPH DESCRIBING TOPIC AND ARGUMENT FOR PAPER DUE BY EMAIL MONDAY 11/24.

WEEK 14

M. 11/24. Thanksgiving Holiday, No Classes.

W. 11/26. Thanksgiving Holiday, No Classes.

WEEK 15

M. 12/01. Flannery O’Connor. “The Life You Save May Be Your Own” (Vol. E 437-44); “Good Country People” (Vol. E 445-58).

Flannery O’Connor. Any question on “The Life You Save….” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Flannery O’Connor. Any question on “Good Country People.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 12/03. Allen Ginsberg. “Howl” (Vol. E 492-500); “Footnote to Howl” (Vol. E 500).; “A Supermarket in California” (Vol. E 500); “Sunflower Sutra” (Vol. E 501).

Allen Ginsberg. Any question on a section from the first half “Howl.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Allen Ginsberg. Any question on a section from the last half “Howl.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Allen Ginsberg. Any question on a Ginsberg poem other than “Howl.” STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

WEEK 16

M. 12/08. Frederick Jackson Turner. From “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (Vol. C 1133-37). Sam Shepard. True West (Vol. E Act 1, 870-887).

F. J. Turner. Any question on Turner. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

W. 12/10. Sam Shepard. True West (Vol. E Act 2, 887-909).

Sam Shepard. Any question on Act 1 of True West. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Sam Shepard. Any question on the first half of Act 2 of True West. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

Sam Shepard. Any question on the second half of Act 2 of True West. STUDENT NAME. (Presentation Completed.)

JOURNAL SET 4 DUE BY PAPER DUE DATE. (Reminder: this set includes Cheever through Shepard; I would suggest finishing this set by exam day so you can use it then.)

FINALS WEEK

Final Exam Date Monday, December 15 from 12:00-1:50 p.m. Due by email Monday, December 22 or earlier: Term Paper. (I must turn in grades by January 02, 2015.)

PRESENTATIONS FOR E222 AMERICAN LITERATURECSU FULLERTON, FALL 2014