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LITR
5733: Seminar in American Culture-Henry James: Family & Film
Fall
1997-98 University of Houston-Clear
Lake Instructor:
Craig White W
1900-2150 Office:
1529-4 Bayou
E-mail: WHITEC@uhcl.edu Phones:(281)283-3380;
home(281)486-0977.Office Hrs: T 2-4,
R 1-3 Caveat:
Data stated and contracts implied in this syllabus may change with minimal
notice with fair hearings at class meetings. Texts Henry
James, Daisy Miller (1878), in The
Turn of the Screw and Other Short Fiction (Signet-NAL, 1962) Henry
James, Washington Square (1881; NY:
Penguin Classics, 1986) Henry
James, The Portrait of a Lady (1881;
Oxford UP, 1995) Henry
James, The Bostonians (1884; Oxford
UP, 1984) Henry
James, The Turn of the Screw (1898),
in The Turn of the Screw and Other Short
Fiction (Signet-NAL, 1962)
Henry
James, The Wings of the Dove (1902;
New York: Norton Critical, 1978) Henry
James, "The Jolly Corner" (1907) (copy) Henry
James, from The American Scene, A
Small Boy and Others, Italian Hours, and Portraits
of Places (copies)
Alice
James, The Death and Letters of Alice
James (1981; Exact Change, 1997) Alice
James, The Diary of Alice James (1964)
(copy) Virginia
Woolf, from A Room of One's Own (1929)
(copy) Henry
James, Sr. Autobiography (copy) William
James, from The Principles of Psychology
(1890) (copy) William
James, from Varieties of Religious
Experience (1902) (copy) R.
W. B. Lewis, The Jameses: A Family
Narrative (Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 1991; on reserve in Neumann
Library) Films:
Bogdanovich, Daisy Miller (1974);
Wyler, The Heiress (1949, based on Washington
Square); Clayton, The Innocents
(1961, based on Turn of the
Screw); Merchant-Ivory, The
Bostonians (1984); Campion, The
Portrait of a Lady (1996) Objectives: 1.
To read and discuss classic American fiction by Henry James in relation to his
life, to writings by his family, and to films based on his fiction. 2.
To study the Jameses as one of the USA's great literary families, and to survey
other literary families such as the Beechers, the Adamses, and the Lowells,
among others. 3.
To compare Henry James's printed fiction with its film adaptations, and to
evaluate the aesthetics of film in relation to print literature. 4.
To trace the development of Henry James's literary style from
"Realism" to "Modernism." 5.
To practice standard and alternative scholarly genres such as the book review,
the encyclopedia article, criticism of film adaptation, and the essay. Written
Assignments and Graded Work: 2
of the following 3 pre-final assignments--due 24 Sept., 29 Oct. *book
review with class presentation--4-5 pages *encyclopedia-style
report on a literary family with class presentation--3 pages *critical
comparison of a print novel with a film adaptation, either concerning a novel by
Henry James or another author, with class presentation--5-7 pages Final
Assignment (due 3 December) *12-page
paper on a subject of your choice, which may incorporate one of the earlier
assignments
You will have 2 due dates before the final paper is due at the final exam
period. You may hand in any of the
written assignments on any of the first three due dates.
That is, the order of the first three assignments is up to you.
Presentation dates will be assigned. Descriptions
of written assignments--Choose
Two *book
review with class presentation--4-5 pages
A standard practice for professional scholars is reviewing academic
texts. This assignment gives you
experience in this practice. Based
at least partly on the requests made following the first class, each of you has
been assigned a book to use if you exercise the book-review written assignment
option. For those of you who are
scheduled to make a presentation on your book, you will have to read your book
whether you choose this written option or not.
For those of you who neither have a book review presentation scheduled
nor want to exercise the book review written option, reading your book is
optional.
For models of the kind of scholarly book review you will be writing, it
is recommended that you look at some book reviews in scholarly journals such as American
Literature or Modern Language
Quarterly or The Henry James Review
(now on the WWWeb). On an assigned
date you will distribute copies of your review to the class and read it aloud.
Discussion of both content and style will follow--that is, students and
instructor may ask questions or comment regarding the book you reviewed, or they
may ask questions or comment regarding the review's composition.
The reviewer may make corrections or additions before submitting the
review to the instructor on one of the due dates. *encyclopedia-style
report on a literary family with class presentation
Another standard practice for professional scholars is to write
encyclopedia articles for reference works.
For this assignment, you are to imagine that you are writing an entry for
a reference book titled The Encyclopedia
of Literary Families. For
models, you might look at standard literary reference works like The
Oxford Companion to American Literature or other such works in the PS
section of the reference shelves. On
an assigned date you will distribute copies of your article to the class and
read it aloud. Discussion of both
content and style will follow. You
may make corrections or additions before submitting the review to the instructor
on one of the due dates. *critical
comparison of a print novel with a film adaptation, either concerning a novel by
Henry James or another author, with class presentation--5-7 pages
Read a book, then watch a film adapted from it.
Write about what has and hasn't changed in the process of adaptation. How do the book and film exhibit the different powers or
values of print and film media? If
you feel postmodern, you could watch the movie before you read the book and
compare this pattern to the standard "read first, then watch."
Or you could even watch an original movie, then read its "novelization."
However, I prefer you do this exercise with a text by James and the film
based on it. It's all right if a
few of you do the same text and film. You
might rent Portrait of a Lady, The Bostonians, or Daisy Miller,
or I could loan you my copy of The Heiress (Washington Square) or The
Innocents (The Turn of the Screw).
You will not make a class presentation on this assignment, though you may
have a class assignment concerning criticism of the James films.
One James text and film you might enjoy that this class is not covering
is The Europeans, a Jane Austen-like comic novel (1878) and the
Merchant-Ivory film adaptation, The Europeans (1979). Final
Assignment *12-page
paper on a subject of your choice, which may incorporate one of the earlier
assignments--due 3 December.
You are free to choose your own topic for your final paper, as long as it
has some relation to the course--that is, as long as it's about the writings or
lives of Henry James or his family or of another literary family, or concerns
film adaptations of literature, or a combination of these categories.
You may expand, extend, or modify one of your earlier papers for your
final paper.
Though the topic for this paper is ultimately your own choice, feel free
to consult with me about your choice or its development. Oral
Presentation Assignments
Each student will make 3 class presentations.
Some of these will be based on the written assignments above, and other
presentation assignments are described below.
If you are making a presentation on a subject that will become one of
your written assignments, you may bring in copies of your draft and read it with
the class for the sake of receiving suggestions.
However, if the draft is not ready, a page of notes copied for the entire
class is required.
In any case, in all presentations you should give students a page of
notes featuring bibliographic information and information.
The purpose of this is to give your fellow students something to look at
in order to help them maintain attention during your presentation. Film
Criticism Review
For one of the films we will be watching in class, a student will look up
a review of the film at the time of its appearance and report on the review's
general verdict and especially its insights in relation to the novel by James.
These assignments will be made randomly by the instructor.
In some cases students may be assigned to review articles about film
adaptation instead of film reviews.
To find a review for the film in question, you might always start by
asking the reference librarian for help. She
or he will probably send you to the Reader's
Guide to Periodical Literature or the New
York Times Index, though you might also try the MLA CD-ROM. You may make copies of the review for the class if you like,
but copies are not necessary. Even
if you make copies, summarize the article and show the class some highlights. Film
criticism and theory reports
Some students will be given articles from scholarly journals regarding
film theory or criticism, especially in relation to book adaptations.
For your report, review the overall point and content of the article(s),
some of the major points of interest in the article, and summarize what you
learned. Readings
from R. W. B. Lewis's The Jameses
One of the major contributions to research on the James family in the
past decade has been R. W. B. Lewis's The
Jameses: A Family Narrative (New York: Farrar, Strauss, & Giroux, 1991).
This book will be placed on 7-day reserve at the circulation desk in
Neumann Library. For a number of
class meetings, students will be assigned to read two chapters and report on
them to the class. It is
recommended that, for your report, you print out a page of notes indicating the
factual highlights of the chapter you read.
Optional
Exercise: James Family Newsgroup
Early in August I subscribed to the James Family Newsgroup but have not
yet offered any postings to it and don't know my way around the use of
newsgroups yet, so here I only give you the information for subscribing if you
like.
This information regarding the James Family Newsgroup came from "the
Henry James scholar's Guide to Web Sites" (http://www.newpaltz.edu/~hathaway/#Jamesf-l):
*Postings devoted to the James family.
To subscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@wvnvm.wvnet.edu with the message
SUBSCRIBE JAMESF-L YOURNAME (your full name replaces "YOURNAME").
You will immediately receive full instructions about accessing the
archive and posting your own messages. Possible
Group Film Outing
According to someone on the James Family Newsgroup, the film of The
Wings of the Dove will premiere in New York on 7 November 1997, but I have
no information about when the film will arrive in Houston.
If it arrives in time, we may use one of our Wednesday nights to see it
as a group. Since we have no final
exam, under these circumstances we would make up the missed class meeting during
the final exam period.
Please offer any further information you may have about the arrival of
this film or of Washington Square. COURSE
POLICIES Attendance:
You are expected to attend every scheduled class meeting.
Attendance is not taken systematically, but, if you miss more than one
meeting, you start jeopardizing your status in the course.
If you keep missing, you should drop the course.
If shockingly absent, return and make contact ([281] 283-3380) ASAP in
normal office hours or leave message. Catch
up fast! If you miss more than two
classes (especially early!), consider dropping, unless prior arrangements are
made. More than one absence affects
final grades. You are always
welcome to discuss your standing in the course. Academic
Honesty Policy:
Please refer to the catalog for the Academic Honesty Policy. Plagiarism, that is, using research without citations, will
result in a grade penalty or failure of the course. (1996-97 Catalog, pp. 69-75).
Copying someone else's test leads to heavy losses of credit for the test
and the course in general. Refer to
the UHCL catalogue for further details regarding expectations and potential
penalties. Disabilities:
If you have a disability and need a special accommodation, consult first with
the Health Center and then discuss the accommodation with me. Incompletes:
A grade of "I" is given only in cases of documented emergency late in
the semester. An Incomplete Grade
Contract must be completed. Reading
and Presentation Schedule: Wednesday,
27 August: introduction of subject;
syllabus; James family genealogy; assignments and copy distribution; begin
watching Daisy Miller Wednesday,
3 September: Daisy Miller + James's travel writings on Rome and Geneva and
preface to Daisy Miller (handouts) complete
viewing Daisy Miller (Bogdanovich) student
report: Becky Nelson--review(s) of
film of Daisy Miller student
report: Ken Hoffman--The
Jameses, chapters 1, 2 student
report: Charity Jones--2 articles on Daisy
Miller Wednesday,
10 September: read:
Washington Square read:
selection from A Small Boy and Others
(copy) student
report: Norman Boyd, Beecher family student
report: Tina Cardona Billington, The
Jameses, chaps. 3, 4 student
report: Marsha Renals, film criticism
of The Heiress Wednesday,
17 September: complete
reading and viewing Washington Square begin
reading The Portrait of a Lady student
report: Linton Gilling, Dumas family student
report: The Jameses, chapters 5, 6--Gayle
Shipp book
report: Cheryl Osnayo-Grife, The
Comic Sense of Henry James Wednesday,
24 September--Due Date #1--any of the three pre-final assignments may be submitted The
Portrait of a Lady student
report: The Jameses, chapters 7, 8--Norman
Boyd student
report: Melinda Hawkins, Coleridge
family student
report: Virginia Lively, "The
concept of literacy in print and film" student
report: Christina Wilkinson, film
review(s) of Campion's The Portrait of a
Lady (1996) student
report: Will Deese, Adams family Wednesday,
1 October: read:
The Portrait of a Lady (complete) read:
The Death and Letters of Alice James student
report: The Jameses, chapters 9, 10--Will
Deese book
report: Becky Nelson, Alice
James student
report: Kimberly Jones, Lowell family student
report: Sherri Bowling, Cooper family Wednesday,
8 October: The
Diary of Alice James
student
report: The Jameses, chapters 11, 12--Sherri
Bowling student
report: Gayle Shipp, Howe and Ward
families student
report: Kurt Bouillion, Harding Davis
family student
report: Kimberly Jones,
"Rediscovering Jane Eyre through
its Adaptations" Wednesday,
15 October: read:
The Bostonians book
report: Tina Cardona Billington, Henry
James and the "Woman Business" student
report: The Jameses, chapters 13, 14--Kurt
Bouillion student
report: Claudia Pratka, film review
of The Bostonians student
report: Marsha Renals, Channing
family Wednesday,
22 October: Meeting
9: The Bostonians student
report: Ken Hoffman, Mather family student
report: Melinda Hawkins, 2 articles
on The Bostonians (1984) student
report: Virginia Lively, Willis
family + "Fanny Fern" book
report: Marsha Renals, Edith
Wharton Wednesday,
29 October: Due Date #2--any of pre-final
assignments may be submitted read:
The Turn of the Screw read:
Henry James Senior, Autobiography
(copy) read:
selection from William James, The
Varieties of Religious Experience book
report: Linton Gilling, The
Father student
report: Cheryl Osnayo-Grife, film
review of The Innocents (1961) student
report: Becky Nelson, Bronte family student
report: Tina Cardona Billington,
Browning family Wednesday,
5 November: read:
The Wings of the Dove read:
selections from William James, The
Principles of Psychology read:
assigned supplements from Norton Critical Edition student
report: The Jameses, chapters 15,
16--Virginia Lively book
report: Claudia Pratka, William
James: Public Philosopher student
report: Christina Wilkinson, Dreiser,
Dresser family book
report: Kurt Bouillion, Henry
James: The Young Master Wednesday,
12 November: read:
The Wings of the Dove read:
selection from William James, The
Varieties of Religious Experience student
report: The Jameses, chapters 17, 18--Linton
Gilling book
report: Will Deese, Henry
James and Pragmatic Thought student
report: Claudia Pratka, Warner family student
report: Gayle Shipp, "Fitzgerald
and the Movies" book
report: Ken Hoffman,
The Image of Europe in Henry James Wednesday,
19 November: read:
The Wings of the Dove book
report: Sherri Bowling, Biography
of Broken Fortunes book
report: Melinda Hawkins, Henry
James: The Imagination of Genius student
report: Christina Wilkinson,
"Squandered Possibilities: The Film Versions of Dreiser's Novels" student
report: Charity Jones, "Toward a
Phenomenology of Cinematic and Electronic Presence" Wednesday,
3 December:--final papers due read:
Chapters from The American Scene;
Henry James, "The Jolly Corner" student
report: Cheryl Osnayo-Grife, Masters
family student
report: Charity Jones: Faulkner
family student
report: The Jameses, Appendix B--Kimberly
Jones student
report: Norman Boyd, "Jack
London and the Movies" 10
December Final
Exam period: There will be no final exam, but we will use the period somehow.
If the film of The Wings of the Dove comes out during the semester, we may use one
of our other class periods to go see it as a group--in which case, we'll use the
final exam period for our final class meeting. Otherwise, I will hold office hours during the final exam
period, and you may pick up your final papers and confer with me if you like. LITR
5733: Seminar in American Culture-Henry James: Family & Film Fall
1997-98 University of Houston-Clear
Lake Student
presentations by student names Following
are the dates of your presentations by name, with the categories, subjects, and
dates following, along with information regarding availability of materials.
Most of this information is also on the course syllabus. I
shuffled the forms repeatedly so that I could divide the assignments as fairly
(or at least as randomly) as possible. If
someone got stuck with a low choice or something they didn't even list, I tried
to give them a good choice on something else. Because
there are more students than books listed on the book review form, a few people
are reviewing the same book. Their
names are cross-listed. Please try
to cooperate. Tina
Cardona Billington book:
Habegger, Henry James and the "Woman
Business" (15 Oct.) (book is
in Neumann library holdings--assignment is cross-listed with Kimberly
Jones) family:
Browning (9 October) report:
The Jameses, chs. 3, 4 (10
September) Kurt
Bouillion family:
Harding Davis (8 October) book:
Novick, Henry James: The Young Master
(5 Nov.) (book is on order at Neumann
library; if not arrived, try inter-library loan) report:
The Jameses, chapters 13, 14 (15
Oct.) Sherri
Bowling family:
Cooper (1 Oct.) book:
Jane Maher, Biography of Broken Fortunes
(19 Nov.) (acquire book through inter-library loan) report:
The Jameses, chapters 11, 12 (8
Oct.) Norman
Boyd family:
Beecher (10 September) book:
Tintner, The Book World of Henry James
(no presentation) (in Neumann Library holdings) report:
The Jameses, chs. 7, 8 (24
September) report:
"Jack London and the Movies" (3
Dec.) (copy from instructor) Will
Deese family:
Adams (24 September) book:
Hock, Henry James and Pragmatic Thought
(12 Nov.) (in Neumann Library
holdings) report:
The Jameses, chapters 9, 10 (1
Oct.) Linton
Gilling book:
Habegger, The Father (29 October) (borrow instructor's copy) family:
Dumas (17 September) report:
The Jameses, chapters 17, 18 (12
Nov.) Melinda
Hawkins book:
Kaplan, Henry James: The Imagination of
Genius (19 Nov.) (if not in
Neumann Library or local library, borrow instructor's copy) family:
Coleridge (24 Sept.) report:
2 articles on The Bostonians (22
Oct.) (copies from instructor) Ken
Hoffman family:
Mather (22 Oct.) book:
Wegelin, The Image of Europe in Henry
James (12 Nov.) (book is in
Neumann Library holdings) report:
The Jameses, chs. 1, 2 (3 Sept.) Charity
Jones book:
Lewis, Edith Wharton (no presentation)
(book should be in Neumann Library or local library, or borrow instructor's
copy) (assignment is cross-listed with Marsha
Renals) family:
Faulkner (3 Dec.) report:
2 articles on Daisy Miller (3 Sept.) (copies from instructor) report:
"Toward a Phenomenology of Cinematic and Electronic Presence" (19
Nov.) (copy from instructor) Kimberly
Jones book:
Habegger, Henry James and the "Woman
Business" (no presentation) (book is in Neumann Library--assignment is
cross-listed with Tina Cardona Billington) family:
Lowell (1 Oct.) report:
The Jameses, Appendix B (3
Dec.) report:
"Rediscovering Jane Eyre through
its Adaptations" (8 Oct.) (copy
from instructor) Virginia
Lively family:
Willis, "Fern" (22 Oct.) book:
Seymour, A Ring of Conspirators (no presentation) (in Neumann library report:
"The concept of literacy in print and film" (24 Sept.) (copy from instructor) report:
The Jameses, chapters 15, 16 (5
Nov.) Becky
Nelson family:
Bronte (29 Oct.) book:
Jean Strouse, Alice James (1
Oct.) (book is either in Neumann library or you may borrow instructor's
copy) report:
review(s) of film of Daisy Miller (3
September) Cheryl
Osnayo-Grife book:
Poirier, The Comic Sense of Henry James
(17 September) family:
Masters (3 Dec.) report:
Cheryl Osnayo-Grife, film review(s) of The
Innocents (29 October) Claudia
Pratka book:
Cotkin, William James: Public Philosopher
(5 Nov.) family:
Warner (12 Nov.) report:
film review of The Bostonians (15
Oct.) Marsha
Renals book:
Lewis, Edith Wharton (22 Oct.) (Neumann library or other library should have copy, or
borrow instructor's copy) (this assignment is cross-listed with Charity
Jones) family:
Channing (15 Oct.) report:
film review(s) of The Heiress (10
Sept.) Gayle
Shipp book:
Shine, The Fictional Children of Henry
James (no presentation) (book is in Neumann Library holdings) family:
Howe and Ward (8 October) report:
The Jameses, chs. 5, 6 (17
September) report:
"Fitzgerald and the Movies" (12
Nov.) (copy from instructor) Christina
Wilkinson family:
Dreiser (5 November) book:
Leon Edel, Henry James: A Life (no
presentation) (book is in Neumann Library holdings) report:
film review(s) of Campion's The Portrait
of a Lady (24 Sept.) report:
"Squandered Possibilities: The Film Versions of Dreiser's Novels" (19
Nov.) (copy from instructor) LITR
5733: Seminar in American Culture-Henry James: Family & Film Fall
1997-98 University of Houston-Clear Lake for
*encyclopedia-style report on a literary
family
Indicate your first 5 choices in ascending order.
That is, put a 1 by the family you'd most like, 2 by second choice, etc. ___Adams:
John Adams, Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, Charles Francis Adams, Henry
Adams, Marian Hooper Adams, Brooks Adams ___Beecher:
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Catharine Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher, Lyman Beecher, and
Charlotte Perkins Gilman ___Bronte:
Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Ann Bronte ___Browning:
Charles Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning ___Channing:
William Ellery Channing, W. E. Channing II, William Henry Channing ___Coleridge:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Hartley Coleridge ___Cooper:
James Fenimore Cooper, Susan Fenimore Cooper, and Constance Fenimore Cooper
(friend of Henry James) ___Dumas:
Alexandre Dumas (Dumas pere) (1802-1870), Alexandre Dumas (Dumas fils)
(1824-1895) ___Harding
Davis: Rebecca Harding Davis and Richard Harding Davis ___Dreiser:
Theodore Dreiser and Paul Dresser (songwriter) ___Faulkner:
grandfather of William Faulkner (spelled Falkner); William Faulkner ___Howe
and Ward: Julia Ward Howe, Samuel Gridley Howe, Laura Elizabeth Richards, Maud
Howe Elliott, Samuel Ward, and F. Marion Crawford ___Lowell:
James Russell Lowell, Amy Lowell, Percival Lowell, Robert Lowell ___Masters:
Edgar Lee Masters and Hilary Masters ___Mather:
Richard Mather, Increase Mather, Cotton Mather, and Samuel Mather ___Warner:
Susan B. Warner, Anna B. Warner ___Willis,
"Fern": Sara P. Willis (Fanny Fern) and Nathaniel P. Willis + father
and in-laws __
Other literary family: _______________________ LITR
5733: Seminar in American Culture-Henry James: Family & Film Fall
1997-98 University of Houston-Clear Lake
Indicate your preference in terms of which book to review in ascending
order--that is, put a 1 by the book you'd most like, 2 by the second, etc, up to
5. Some of these books are in
Neumann Library, some are in my holdings (you may borrow), and some must be
acquired through inter-library loan. __
George Cotkin. William James: Public Philosopher. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University Press, 1990. __
Edel, Leon. Henry James: A Life. NY:
Harper and Row, 1985. __
Alfred Habegger. The Father: A Life of Henry James, Sr.. New York: Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 1994. __
Alfred Habegger. Henry James and the "Woman Business". Cambridge UP, 1989. __
Richard A. Hock. Henry James and Pragmatic Thought: A Study in the Relationship between
the Philosophy of William James and the Literary Art of Henry James.
Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1974? __
Fred Kaplan. Henry James: The Imagination of Genius. A Biography.
London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1992. __
R. W. B. Lewis. Edith Wharton: A Biography. New
York: Harper Colophon, 1975. __
Jane Maher. Biography of Broken Fortunes: Wilky and Bob, Brothers of William, Henry
and Alice James (1986) __
Sheldon Novick. Henry James: The Young Master (New York: Random House, 1996) __
Richard Poirier. The Comic Sense of Henry James: A Study of the Early Novels.
NY: Oxford UP, 1960. __
Miranda Seymour. A Ring of Conspirators: Henry James and His Literary Circle, 1895-1915.
Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1988. Muriel
G. Shine. The Fictional Children of Henry James. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968. __
Jean Strouse. Alice James: The Life of the Brilliant but Neglected Younger Sister of
William and Henry James. Boston:
Houghton Mifflin, 1980. __
Adeline R. Tintner. The
Book World of Henry James: Appropriating the Classics.
Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Research Press, 1987. __
Christof Wegelin. The Image of Europe in Henry James
Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1958. |