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Instructor: |
Noelle Brada-Williams |
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Office
Location: |
FO 110 |
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Telephone: |
(408) 924-4439 |
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Email: |
Noelle.Brada-Williams@sjsu.edu |
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Office
Hours: |
Tuesday and Thursday 3-4:30 PM and additional times by appointment |
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Class
Days/Time: |
Tuesday 7 – 9:45 PM |
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Classroom: |
FO 104 (English Seminar Room) |
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Prerequisites: |
Classified Graduate Standing |
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Faculty
Webpage |
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/awilliams/index.html |
Many key works of twentieth-century American literature seem to straddle the border between a short story collection and a novel. Writers such as Jean Toomer and Sandra Cisneros have used genre-bending styles to represent ethnic American communities and experiences. This course will explore both the impact of ethnic Americans in shaping the genres between short story collections and novels and the impact of these boundary-defying genres on ethnic American literature. It will be a semester-long examination of the interrelationship of form and content. While we will discuss the various definitions of these forms, the emphasis of the class will be on exploring the aesthetic and political uses of these author’s choices, rather than on determining set genre definitions.
In this course, students
will demonstrate the first four of the five MA program learning outcomes:
MA
1: an appropriate level of expertise in literary history, literary theory, and
rhetoric.
MA 2: high-level proficiency in literary research and in the synthesis of research.
MA 3: critical and analytical skills in the interpretation and evaluation of literary texts.
MA 4: a command of written academic English, including the abilities to a) organize and present material in a cogent fashion, b) formulate and defend original arguments, c) employ effectively the language of their discipline and d) write under time constraints.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
CLO1: Discuss the importance of the short story cycle and related genres within American literary history
CLO2: Understand the specific contribution of ethnic American writers to these genres and their impact of the form on their work
CLO3: Demonstrate the ability to carry out small and large research projects
CLO4: Deliver a conference-style presentation in preparation for future contributions to our academic discipline.
Participation is not just attending classes but engaging in the class topics and reading assignments and being ready and able to thoughtfully discuss both the readings and the comments made in class. At the graduate level, much of what you will learn will be from your fellow classmates. It is your responsibility to treat everyone inside the classroom with respect. Coming late, using electronic devices such as phones for activity unrelated to the classroom, or not giving another student your full attention when it is their turn to speak constitutes not just a breach of proper behavior, but a breach of your commitment to this class.
Students are responsible for understanding the policies and procedures about add/drop, grade forgiveness, etc. Refer to the current semester’s Catalog Policies section at http://info.sjsu.edu/static/catalog/policies.html. The last day to drop without a “W” for Fall 2012 is September 4th. The Late Drop Policy is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/aars/policies/latedrops/policy/. Students should be aware of the current deadlines and penalties for dropping classes. Information about the latest changes and news is available at the Advising Hub at http://www.sjsu.edu/advising/.
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Presentation on a
work of criticism [MA SLO 2,3, 4]. Due
dates based on what week (2nd through 13th) that you
sign up for. |
Write a one-page
review and orally present an overview
of a work of criticism in order to inform our class discussion. A written handout for the class is recommended. |
10% |
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Proposal and
Annotated Bibliography [MA SLO 2, 3, 4]. Due
Nov. 13th. |
One-page proposal
(for long research paper) plus min. of 10 annotated bibliographic entries |
20% |
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Presentation on a
literary text you read on your own [MA SLO 1 & 3]. Due
Nov. 27th. |
A 5 minute
presentation on a book you choose for week 14 |
5% |
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Research Paper [MA SLO 1, 2, 3, 4]. Due. Dec. 18th. |
15-20 page essay |
40% |
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Research presentation
[MA SLO 1, 2, 3 & 4]. Dec. 4th or 18th. |
10-20 minute
presentation on a condensed/edited version of your research paper |
10% |
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Participation [MA
SLO 1 & 3]. Ongoing due dates. |
Participation in 15
classes, including prepared questions and comments on each week’s readings |
15% |
Your commitment as a student to learning is
evidenced by your enrollment at San Jose State University. The University’s Academic Integrity
policy, located at http://www.sjsu.edu/senate/S07-2.htm, requires you to be
honest in all your academic course work. Faculty members are required to report
all infractions to the office of Student Conduct and Ethical Development. The Student Conduct and Ethical
Development website is available at http://www.sjsu.edu/studentconduct/.
Instances
of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Cheating on exams or plagiarism
(presenting the work of another as your own, or the use of another person’s
ideas without giving proper credit) will result in a failing grade and
sanctions by the University. For this class, all assignments are to be
completed by the individual student unless otherwise specified. If you would
like to include your assignment or any material you have submitted, or plan to
submit for another class, please note that SJSU’s Academic Policy S07-2
requires approval of instructors.
If you need course
adaptations or accommodations because of a disability, or if you need to make
special arrangements in case the building must be evacuated, please make an
appointment with me as soon as possible, or see me during office hours.
Presidential Directive 97-03 requires that students with disabilities
requesting accommodations must register with the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at
http://www.drc.sjsu.edu/ to establish a record of their disability.
A sampling of additional
texts that may impact the categories of short story cycle or novels of linked
stories (these are your choices for the week 14 reading assignment):
Sherman Alexie, The
Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven (1994)
Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg,
Ohio (1919)
Djuna Barnes, Nightwood
(1937)
Robert Olen Butler, A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain (1992) or Severance (2006)
Willa Cather, The
Troll Garden (1905)
Edwidge Dandicat, Krik?
Krak! (1996)
W.E.B. Du Bois, The
Souls of Black Folk (1903) (mix of fiction and nonfiction)
William Faulkner, As
I Lay Dying (1935), Go Down Moses (1942),
or The Unvanquished (1938)
Jessica Hagedorn, Dogeaters
(1990) or Dream Jungle (2003)
Ernest Hemingway, In
Our Time (1925/1930)
Sarah Orne Jewett,
The Country of the Pointed Firs (1896)
James Joyce, Dubliners
(1914)
Maxine Hong Kingston, Woman Warrior (1976)
Jhumpa Lahiri, The
Interpreter of Maladies (1999)
---. Unaccustomed
Earth (2008)
Toshio Mori, Yokohama, California (1949)
Leslie Marmon Silko, Storyteller (1981) (mix of fiction and
nonfiction)
Toni Morrison A Mercy: A Novel (2008)
Tim O’Brien, The Things they Carried (1990)
Gertrude Stein, Three Lives (1909)
John Steinbeck, The Pastures of Heaven (1932)
Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club (1980)
John Updike, Too Far to Go (1979)
Sylvia Watanabe, Talking to the Dead (1994)
Eudora Welty, The Golden Apples (1949)
Karen Tei Yamashita, I Hotel (2010)
If any changes need to
be made to the schedule, students will be given a week’s notice in class and
via email.
Table 1 Course Schedule
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Week |
Date |
Topics, Readings,
Assignments, Deadlines |
|
1 |
August 28th |
Introduction. Before class, have read Suzanne Ferguson, “Sequences, Anti-Sequences, Cycles, and Composite Novels: The Short Story in Genre Criticism.” Journal of the Short Story in English. 41 (Autumn 2003), available at http://jsse.revues.org/index312.html. We will finalize text choices for week 14 today. Sign up for presentation on a work of criticism during weeks 2-13. |
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2 |
Sept. 4th |
Read Jean Toomer, Cane (1923). Plus Charles Scruggs, “Textuality and Vision in Jean Toomer’s Cane” (277-296 of NC edition). |
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3 |
Sept. 11th |
Read Karen Tei Yamashita, Tropic of Orange. (1997) plus Johannes
Hauser, “Structuring the
Apokalypse:
Chaos and Order in Karen Tei Yamashita's Tropic of
Orange” PhiN. Philology im
Netz. (Vol 37, 2006) at
http://web.fu-berlin.de/phin/phin37/p37t1.htm |
|
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Sept. 12th |
See Karen Tei
Yamashita at SJSU! |
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4 |
Sept. 18th |
Read N. Scott Momaday, Way to Rainy Mountain (1969). Read Momaday, “The Man Made of Words” and selections by Berner and Oandasan (all in reader). |
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5 |
Sept. 25th |
Read Tomas Rivera, And the Earth Did Not Devour Him (1971) and excerpts from Ingram and Dunn & Morris (in the reader). |
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6 |
Oct. 2nd |
Read Maxine Hong Kingston, “No Name Woman” section of China Men and China Men up through “The Laws” (5-19, 213-381). |
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7 |
Oct. 9th |
Finish reading China
Men (382-541). Read Rocio Davis,
“Introduction: Asian American and Asian Canadian Short-story Cycles” (in
reader). |
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8 |
Oct. 16th |
Read Gloria Naylor, The Women of Brewster Place (1980). Read Laura Nicosia’s “Gloria Naylor’s Brewster Place: Evolution of a Genre: (pdf available from Prof.). |
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9 |
Oct. 23rd |
Read House on Mango
Street (1984). Also read James Nagel’s “Sandra Cisneros’s Cuentitos Latinos: The House on Mango
Street” in reader. |
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10 |
Oct. 30th |
Read first half of Louise Erdrich, Love Medicine (1984-2009) though “The Red Convertible”(1-189). Read Michelle Pacht, excerpts from The Subversive Storyteller: The Short Story Cycle and the Politics of Identity in America (in reader). |
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11 |
Nov. 6th |
Finish Love Medicine (including the first 32 pages of the P.S. section). Read Hertha D. Sweet Wong, “Louise Erdrich’s Love Medicine: Narrative Communities and the Short Story Cycle” (in reader). |
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12 |
Nov. 13th |
Read Lois Ann Yamanaka Wild Meat and the Bully Burgers (1996) to page 158. Proposal and Annotated Bibliography Due. |
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13 |
Nov. 20th |
Finish Wild Meat and
the Bully Burgers (1996). Read
Rocio Davis, “Short
Story Cycle and Hawai’I Bildungsroman: Writing Slef, Place, and Family in
Lois-Ann Yamanaka’s Wild Meat and the
Bully Burgers” (in the reader). |
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14 |
Nov. 27th |
Read a text of your own choosing from the assigned list
above and prepare a 5 minute (max!)
presentation on it. Only one
student per text so be sure to get your choice confirmed. You should have
also read at least one additional piece of criticism on this text when you
make your presentation. Recommended reading: title story and part two of
Jhumpa Lahiri’s Unaccustomed Earth. |
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15 |
Dec. 4th |
Research Presentations (Day 1) |
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Final Examweek |
Dec. 18th, 7:45 to 10 PM |
Research Presentations (Day 2). Research Paper Due. |