In this class, we will improve your ability to read and write about literature. To this end, we will have classroom discussions, complete in-class and out of class writing assignments, and formal essays. In order to understand how literature has been read and written about, we will examine the basics of critical theory. The purpose of studying this theory is not that you all will become theory experts, but rather that you will be able to understand the context in which you read and write about literary texts. While we will be reading primarily Southern texts, the intention is not to exclusively study Southern American literature, but rather to develop the ability to read texts critically, which will continue to serve you as you progress in your study at the University of Florida.

In addition to these critical skills, we will also focus on the grammatical, mechanical, and stylistic aspects of writing. We will aim for prose that is as clear, concise, well organized, and well edited as possible. While we will not be spending as much time on these issues as you did in ENC 1101 or its equivalent, we will still strive to improve the prose that is written through various activities and thus formal essays will be graded on stylistic issues as well as content.

Classroom explanations and discussions will guide you through the reading and writing assignments. You will also receive help in one-on-one conferences and peer editing sessions. Because this class fulfils the Gordon Rule, you will be asked to write a minimum of 6000 words over the course of the semester. You will also need to do the following:

1. Keep up with reading and writing assignments. The following books are available at Goerings’s Bookstore:

• Hacker, Diana. A Writer’s Reference. 4^th ed.
• Lynn, Stephen. Texts and Contexts. 2^nd ed.
• Alison, Dorothy. Bastard Out of Carolina.
• Course Packet (available at UBS)

1. Do all assignments before a class session begins (by class, you should have read the text selections listed on the syllabus for that day).
2. Participate in class discussions and editing sessions. Bring texts to class and take notes.

Because class attendance is critical to your understanding of class material, you are only allowed two unexcused absences over the course of the semester. After two unexcused absences, your final grade average will be dropped five points for every day missed. An absence due to illness or family crisis may be excused if properly documented to my satisfaction. In addition, if you participate in a university sponsored event (music, theater, field trip, or athletics), you must provide me with documentation from an appropriate authority. Whether or not an absence is excused, you are responsible for contacting a classmate or me to find out what material you missed and any work that was assigned. If work is due in class on the day of the absences, the work is due in my mailbox by 4pm that day.

One or two tardies (arriving late in class or departing class early) will be excused if the reasons are acceptable and if there is valid documentation. Otherwise, tardiness is not acceptable because it is disruptive, and, beyond any excused tardies, class participation grade and overall grade will be affected (2 tardies = 1 absence).

In addition to attending class, you are also expected to contribute class discussions and participate in workshop sessions with your peers. Learning is not a solitary process, but one that necessarily involves others and I thus consider class participation a very important part of achieving this class’s goals.

Every week, you will complete in-class writing assignments that will deal with the material that has been assigned and discussed that week. In addition, you will have reading quizzes throughout the semester on material that is being discussed for that class meeting. If you are reading the texts as we progress though the semester, you should do fine.

All work is due at the beginning of class on the day it is due. All major essays should be typed on only one side of 8 ½" x 11" white paper, double-spaced with 1" margins on all sides, and be in Times New Roman font. On days when drafts are due (workshop days), you must bring two copies of your paper to class. These copies should be clean, typed papers (the same format as the final draft) and already well edited by you. I will not accept any papers that are not in this format.

Any in-class writing assignments should be on one side of loose-leaf college-rule notebook paper and in blue or black ink.

There will be a total of four major essays completed during this course. Each essay will be approximately 2000 words and will deal with the topics and literature that have been discussed in class prior to that essay. Essay 1 will be a New Critical analysis of an assigned text. Essay 2 will focus on how Deconstructive criticism reveals layers of seemingly contradictory meanings in the same text. Essay 3 will use Feminist Criticism to examine Bastard Out of Carolina. Essay 4, the Final Paper, will be an independent project of your own choosing (more guidelines will be given later in the term).

All work must be completed for a grade since the work assigned fulfills the Gordon Rule, which stipulates that students are to write a minimum of 6000 words that receive feedback are graded, and give experience in various types of writing important in disciplines, workplace, and civic areas.

Unless the work assigned is specifically designed to be completed in groups, all work must be individual. Evidence of collusion (working with another student or tutor not connected with class) and plagiarism (use of another’s ideas, data, and/or statements without acknowledgement or with only minimal acknowledgement) will lead to the procedures set up by the university for academic dishonestly.

Because class participation relies heavily in individuals feeling comfortable expressing their opinions, you must always show respect for the diversity of opinions expressed in this class. You must also demonstrate respect for gender, racial, class, and ethnic differences among your colleagues and instructor.

Any complaints about separate assignments should be addressed to me and not to the English Department. If you have any complaints on the final grade, you may see me at the beginning of the next term. If you find that you still have complaints after our meeting, you may express your complaints on a form in the English Department Office (4012 Turlington). The from and accompanying course material will be given to the Director of Writing Program Administration for further action. A review committee may decide to raise, lower, or keep the originally assigned grade. This decision is final. The material submitted will remain on file in the English Department Office.

These assignments are due in class on the dates indicated. There will be NO LATE assignments accepted. Also, there will be additional assignments and materials not indicated on this sheet (I will announce them in class), and this schedule as well as individual assignments are subject to change. All readings are in the course packet unless otherwise noted. (T/C = Texts and Contexts)

M, July 3 – Course Introduction, Syllabus Review

T, July 4 - Holiday

W, July 5 – Syllabus Quiz

R, July 6 – T/C Ch. 2 "New Criticism" and "Marse Chan: A Tale of Old Virginia" by Thomas

Nelson Page

F, July 7 – In-class writing and "Preface" to Norton’s The Literature of the American South

M, July 10 – Assign Essay 1, Essay structure and format, "The Haunted Palace" by Elizabeth

Madox Roberts

T, July 11 – T/C Ch. 3 "Reader-Response Criticism" and "Swallow Barn: or, A Sojourn in Old

Dominion" by John Pendleton Kennedy

W, July 12 – "The Marshes of Glynn" by Sidney Lanier and "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd

Skynrd

R, July 13 – Peer Review

F, July 14 – Essay 1 Due

M, July 17 – T/C Ch. 4 "Deconstructive Criticism"

T, July 18 – Assign Essay 2, "The Memory Place" by Barbara Kingslover, "The Hilltop" from

Remembering by Wendell Berry, and "Dixie’s Land" by Daniel Decatur Emmett

W, July 19 – "The Little Convent Girl" by Grace King and "Désirée’s Baby" by Kate Chopin

R, July 20 – "Jean-ah Poquelin" by George Washington Cable, "I Have a Dream" by Martin

Luther King, and "The Ethics of Living Jim Crow" by Richard Wright

F, July 21 – Peer Review

M, July 24 – Essay 2 Due, T/C Ch. 7 "Feminist Criticism"

T, July 25 – Assign Essay 3, Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison (1-103)

W, July 26 – Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison (104- 203)

R, July 27 – Bastard Out of Carolina by Dorothy Allison (204-309)

F, July 28 – Peer Review

M, July 31 – Essay 3 Due, T/C Ch.5 "Biographical, Historical, and New Historical Criticism"

T, Aug 1 – Assign Essay 4, "Why Women Always Take Advantage of Men" by Zora Neale

Hurston and "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker

W, Aug 2 – "Nikki-Rosa" by Nikki Giovanni and "The Old Order" by Katherine Anne Porter,

R, Aug 3 – T/C Ch. 6 "Psychological Criticism" and "A Rose for Emily" by William Faulkner

F, Aug 4 – Library Day

M, Aug 7 – "A Good Man is Hard to Find," "Revelation," and "The Fiction Writer and His

Country" by Flannery O’Connor; "The Search for Redemption: Flannery O’Connor’s

T, Aug 8 – "A Curtain of Green" by Eudora Welty and "The Cult of Southern Womanhood"

from Southern Ladies and Gentlemen by Florence King

W, Aug 9 – Research Day

R, Aug 10 – Conferences

F, Aug 11 – Last Day of Class, Peer Review (Essay 4 Due in my mailbox by 4pm on Aug 14)