English 375-901: Contemporary American Literature
Spring 2006
Mondays and Wednesdays, 4-5:15;  Business 5162
Professor Bryant Mangum
Office: 307 Anderson House, 913 W. Franklin St.

I. Texts: The books listed below will be available through Virginia Book Company, 900 W. Franklin.

Book List:
J.D. Salinger	Nine Stories
Alice Walker	The Color Purple
Raymond Carver	What We Talk About When We Talk About Love
Edward Albee	Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Ken Kesey	One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Amy Tan	The Joy Luck Club
Sherri Reynolds	The Rapture of Canaan
Clyde Edgerton	The Floatplane Notebooks
Additional short
works:	To be announced

II. Objectives:
A. Abstracting Concerns of the Works:  The description of Contemporary American Literature reads this, in part: "J.D. Salinger's Seymour Glass tells a story about bananafish, which have swum into a hole and, after filling up on bananas, are unable to swim back out again.  They die.  What T.S. Eliot’s waste land was to post-World War I writers, Salinger's bananafish hole is to contemporary American authors.  The hole comes in various disguises...."

To examine closely some of the disguises or metaphors, then, will be our first goal.  But we will be particularly interested in observing the ways in which forces beneath the disguises have determined the shape of the "quest myth" and the state of the family in America from the end of World War II (1945) to the present.

B.  Close Reading:  The foundation of the first goal is close, careful reading of the text, which will lead us to analysis of such things as character, conflict, and theme.

C.  Synthesis:  You will synthesize your reading, class notes, and class discussion of a work and combine the synthesis with reading, etc. of other works in order to make sound generalizations about contemporary American literature.

III. Written Assignments: There will be (a) three hour tests, the last one of which will be taken on the day of the final examination (b) a midterm take-home essay test, (c) a cumulative final take-home essay examination, (d) occasional reaction papers, plus a minimum of five 75-100-word blackboard postings and (e) an optional paper (3-5 pages long, typed). The written assignments will be weighted in this way:

Option 1:

Average of three hour tests 40% (Test 1=13%; Test 2=13%; Test 3=14%)
Reaction papers, blackboard postings, and class participation 5%
Midterm Essay grade 25%
Final Essay Examination 30%

Option 2:

Average short tests 30% (10% of final grade for each test)
Reaction papers, blackboard postings, and class participation 5%
Midterm Essay grade 25%
Optional Paper 10%
Final Examination 30%

IV. Below is the grading scale for the class:

90-100 A
80-90 B
70-80 C
60-70 D
0-59 F

(Numerical grades will be assigned only on the short answer tests. The other assignments will be assigned letter grades that will be averaged in numerically in this way: A=95; A-=92; B+=88; B=85; B-=82; C+=78; C=75; C-= 72; D+=68; D=65; D-=62; F+=58; F=57 and below.)

V.  Class Participation, Attendance, and Lateness:  Much of our class will consist of discussion of the works we are reading. You are encouraged to contribute to class discussions and your participation will be figured into your final grade, particularly in borderline cases. Because participation is such an important component of the course, you are allowed to miss a maximum of four classes. If you miss more than four classes for any reason (other than one of dire emergency such as serious illness or death in your immediate family) you will receive a grade of F in the course.  From the beginning of week two, a tardy counts as an absence.  The last day to withdraw from the course without penalty is 24 March. For the way that Blackboard postings will be used in the calculation of your class participation grade, check Course Documents.

VI. VCU Honor System:  "Virginia Commonwealth University recognizes that honesty, truth, and integrity are values central to its mission as in institution of higher education."  This class will be conducted in strict adherence to VCU's Honor system policies, which can be found in the VCU Resource Guide.

VII. Students with Disabilities:  "Virginia Commonwealth University is committed to providing students with disabilities equal opportunities to benefit from all programs, services and activities offered."  Students with disabilties shold identify to the instructor at the beginning of the course the services that they will need.  For further information on this policy, refer to VCU Resource Guide.

VIII. Miscellaneous: My office is 307 Anderson House (913 W. Franklin). The telephone number is 828-1255. I will post office hours on my door (or you will find a link to them on my web page), but if you need to see me at times other than those posted please feel free to set up a time during which we can meet. There is a voice mail on my telephone, and if you leave word on it, I will call you back within an hour or so. My e-mail address is bmangum@vcu.edu.

IX. Daily Assignment Sheet to Follow: