Syllabus
May 31 Introduction to course: readings, requirements, research
component; reserve materials; oral reports-- explanation and assignments;
Hal Holbrook's Mark Twain Tonight! (tape); first two short stories
June 2 6 short stories; origin of Twain's nom de plume (tape); begin
The Gilded Age
June 6 [research tutorials--15-30 minutes each: 6-8:40 pm, Hibbs 328]
June 7 The Gilded Age; 2 short stories
June 8 [research tutorials--15-30 minutes each: 6-8:40 pm, Hibbs 328]
June 9 conclude The Gilded Age; 1 short story; begin Tom Sawyer
June 14 conclude Tom Sawyer; 2 short stories;
midterm exam (writing assignment) distributed
June 16 1 short story; oral report #1; begin Huck Finn
June 21 oral reports #2 and #3; midterm exam due; Huck Finn
June 23 conclude Huck Finn, including selections
from Life on the Mississippi and the raftsman passage; oral report #4
June 28 guest lecturer, Prof. Earle Coleman (Dept. of Philosophy)
on art and morality; begin Pudd'nhead Wilson
June 30 conclude Pudd'nhead Wilson; 1 short story
July 5 oral report #5; begin Mark Twain: Public Intellectual Writings, #s
1-14
July 7 oral report #6; Public Intellectual Writings: begin King Leopold's
Soliloquy; research papers due
July 12 conclude King Leopold's Soliloquy;
conclude Public Intellectual Writings, #s 15-19
July 14 catch up and review (6-7 pm); Coda: Chs. IV-IX, Life on the
Mississippi; optional final exam (7-8:40 pm)
Short Stories
May 31: Notorious Jumping Frog, p. 1; Grandfather's Old Ram, p. 100
June 2: "Dandy Frightening the Squatter," p. 1 of Tales, Sketches..., Vol. 1
(on reserve); Jim Baker's Blue-Jay Yarn, p. 186; Dick Baker's Cat, p. 105;
Double-Barreled Detective Story, p. 478; Great Landslide Case, p. 83; Buck
Fanshaw's Funeral, p. 88
June 7: Bad Little Boy, p. 7; Good Little Boy, p. 74
June 9: Cannibalism in the Cars, p. 10
June 14: Private History, p. 269; Carnival of Crime, p. 141
June 16: A True Story, p. 116
June 30: Hadleyburg, p. 400
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