English 660: Southern Literature

Class Meeting Time:  Wednesdays 7:20 to 10:00 PM 

Class Meeting Place:  Thompson Hall 117

COURSE TEXTS

William Faulkner, AS I LAY DYING

William Faulkner, ABSALOM, ABSALOM!

Flannery O'Connor, A GOOD MAN IS HARD TO FIND AND OTHER STORIES

Eudora Welty, THIRTEEN STORIES

Randall Kenan, A VISITATION OF SPIRITS

Tayari Jones, LEAVING ATLANTA

Linda Hogan, POWER

Kwadwo Agymah Kamau, FLICKERING SHADOWS

Patricia Yaeger, DIRT AND DESIRE: RECONSTRUCTING SOUTHERN WOMEN'S WRITING,             1930-1990

SPRING 2007 SCHEDULE OF READINGS AND WRITINGS

ESSAYS

You will write five critical essays for this course.  Four of these will be in the 1-3 page range, while the fifth and final essay will be a 10-15 page capstone involving at least a little research.

For your first essay, I'll ask you to look closely and briefly (2 full pages, or about 700-800 words) at a single passage or motif or technique in Absalom, Absalom!  This essay invites you to roll up your sleeves and do some good, focused close reading.

Next, you'll write a slightly longer piece (3 full pages, or around 1050-1200 words) that incorporates Yaeger's Dirt and Desire in some way and also discusses either O'Connor or Welty or perhaps both.  Here, as in the first essay, you're more than welcome to craft a close, attentive, critical analysis of the fiction—but we'll also work on putting your ideas into conversation with Yaeger's, to help you gear up for the longer essay you'll be writing later this semester.

After spring break, you'll write one more two-pager (on either A Visitation of Spirits or Leaving Atlanta) and one more three-pager (on Power, Flickering Shadows, or, if you haven't already written about it, Leaving Atlanta).  More details will follow.

In these four papers, you will likely construct readings of specific passages and connect specific passages to larger patterns (whether these be motifs, techniques, issues, or something else).  Obviously, the trick is to be very concise and sharply focused:  no throat clearing, no treading water, no wasted gestures or excess words.  At the same time, it's important in these papers to strike productive balances between telling details and bigger critical pictures.

Lastly, you'll write one longer (10-15page) essay.  You have two basic options when it comes to conceiving and approaching this longer essay.  1. If you'd like more practice developing a full-fledged researched critical essay, you can get that practice here.  You'd enter actively into one or more debates currently raging in the field of Southern Literature and/or Southern Studies, and I would help you identify and track down the relevant critical articles and books.  2. Or you can write a critical essay which interacts with at least two major critical sources but focuses mainly on your responses to one or two course texts.  This option would give you the opportunity to become much more intimately acquainted with one or two of our texts; most of your work would take the form of textual analysis.  For both 1. and 2., you're welcome to make references to southern fiction writers not represented on this syllabus; be sure, though, to give most if not all of your attention to texts we've read and discussed.

GRADING

Two short (2-page) Papers—10% each

Two short (3-page) Papers—15% each

Class Participation (assorted in-class work)—10%

Longer Essay—40%

For the Papers

A+ (100), A (96), A- (92)

B+ (88), B (85), B- (82)

C+ (78), C (75)

F (50), No essay (0)

For Final Grades

• 94-100=A 
• 90-93=A- 
• 86-89=B+
• 83-85=B
• 80-82=B- 
• 76-79=C+
• 70-75=C
• 0-69=F

POLICIES:  LATE WORK, ATTENDANCE

Late Work:  I will accept late papers up to four calendar days (not class meetings) after the due date, but will dock late work one full letter grade for each day the paper is late.  For example, an "A" paper turned in two calendar days late will receive a "C."  Even so, keep in mind that an "F" paper still counts for 50 points; better to hand in the paper anyway than to take a zero.  I reserve the right to make exceptions to this rule, at my discretion, for students facing serious difficulties.

If you have been taken seriously ill, sucked into a northern Virginia traffic vortex, and/or abducted by bug-eyed aliens who don't have e-mail, you may arrange with me to hand in your paper after the due date without penalty.

Attendance is expected and strongly encouraged.  I don't anticipate any problems, but if you do run into difficulties that I should know about, please let me know in advance (if possible) or contact me by e-mail or telephone during, and we'll do our best to work something out.  The rule of thumb here is that you should try to do your best to communicate with me as problems arise.  I also suggest that you get to know at least a few other people in this class, gather their email addresses and phone numbers, and contact them (or me) if you need to miss a class.

ACADEMIC HONESTY AND THE GMU HONOR CODE

All work done for this class must be your own.  Period.  Please keep in mind that plagiarism is a violation of the GMU Honor Code.  Plagiarism means using words, ideas, opinions, or factual information from another person or source without giving due credit.  In other words, plagiarism is a form of fraudulently claiming someone else's work as your own, and as such is the equivalent of cheating on an exam—a serious academic offense.  Plagiarism is grounds for failing at least the assignment, if not the course.  If you are not 100% clear about what you should document, consult with me.  When in doubt, document.  (Adapted from the English Department Statement on Plagiarism)

Writers give credit through accepted documentation styles, such as parenthetical citation, footnotes, or endnotes; a simple listing of books and articles consulted is not sufficient.  Nor does rearrangement of another person's phrasing (paraphrase) release one from the obligation to document one's sources.  Please bear in mind, though, that only one of the five essays I'm asking you to write in this course involves research.

To review the English Department Statement on Plagiarism, please go to the Writing Center website: 

writingcenter.gmu.edu

Like you, I am bound by the honor code to report suspected plagiarism to the Honor Committee.  For a description of the code and the committee, please consult the GMU Catalog.  The relevant section is available online at: 

www.gmu.edu/catalog/apolicies/#Anchor12

GMU INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITY POLICY

If you are a student with a disability and you need academic accommodations, please see me and contact the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at (703) 993-2474.  All academic accommodations must be arranged through that office.