X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia. Backpack Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, 5th edition. Pearson/Longman, 2016.
English 102-02
Fall 2017 Calendar
8/21 syllabus; introduction to class; writing sample
8/23 writing about literature and the importance of literary reading (group exercise); Midterm Essay assigned
8/25 introduction to short fiction: “The Appointment in Samarra” (online, W.
Somerset Maugham translation); “Godfather Death” (12)
8/28 introduction to drama: Oedipus the King (686-711)
8/30 introduction to poetry: “In a Station of the Metro” (432); “Driving to Town Late
to Mail a Letter” (443)
9/1 archetype: from Dr. Faustus (Act 2, Scene 2) (657-662); “The Negro Speaks of
Rivers” (594)
9/4 LABOR DAY HOLIDAY
9/6 point of view: “The Tell-Tale Heart” (40)
9/8 “Cathedral” (85)
9/11 character: “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” (579)
9/13 dialogue: from The Importance of Being Earnest (665-669); “Girl” (56)
9/15 objective description (the objective correlative): “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place”
(151)
9/18 irony: “The Gospel According to Mark” (123)
9/20 “Mending Wall” (583) and “Birches” (585)
9/22 metafiction/metatextuality: “Happy Endings” (256); “The Gift of the Magi” (271)
9/25 “Out, Out—” (371); “Loves Calls Us to the Things of This World” (427)
9/27 the Gothic: “Young Goodman Brown” (260)
9/29 setting: “The Storm” (104); “The Story of an Hour” (179)
10/2 symbol: “The Chrysanthemums” (206)
10/4 “A Rose for Emily” (32)
10/6 “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” (229); “The Lottery” (235)
10/9 Midterm Essay due; review for Midterm Exam
10/11 Midterm Exam
GRADING RUBRIC
for CLASS ESSAYS
Content: (points indicate DEDUCTIONS)
Adequate length (points are deducted fractionally, depending on how far the essay falls short of the length, before any other point deduction is even considered)
Unclear thesis statement (10 points)
Extensive plot summary (20 points)
Poor organization, focus, and/or paragraphing (10 points)
“Padding” (10 points)
Nonexistent conclusion (10 points)
Weak and/or repetitive conclusion (5 points)
Missing quotes WITH citations (10 points)
No Works Cited page (10 points)
Style: (points indicate DEDUCTIONS)
Grammar/mechanics (2 points per incident, or 10 points if consistent/rampant)
Repetition (2 points per incident, or 10 points if consistent/rampant)
Word choice (2 points per incident, or 10 points if consistent/rampant)
Spelling (2 points per incident, or 10 points if consistent/rampant)
Punctuation (1 point per incident, or 5 points if consistent or rampant)
MLA format: (according to example provided in the syllabus) first-page header, last- name pagination (at the header, or half-inch, top margin), double-spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, parenthetical page citation (5 points)
Your Last Name 1
Your Name
Instructor
Course
14 December 2008
Wright’s Uncanny North: The Great Migration as the New Frontier in Native Son
According to Leslie Fiedler, American literature, of all the fiction of the West, is
“bewilderingly and embarrassingly, a gothic fict