LITR 4333: American Immigrant Literature

Spring 2002, University of Houston-Clear Lake

Mondays, 4-6:50pm, Bayou 3227

A multicultural course with a unifying theme:

the story of coming to America,

becoming American, and changing America.

( . . . & subplots! . . . )

generational conflicts * the family and the nation

* ethnicity & gender * the shock of America *

the memory of the homeland

Course Texts

Short-Fiction Anthology

Imagining America: Stories from the Promised Land (1992)

Non-Fiction Anthology

Visions of America: Personal Narratives from the Promised Land (1992)

Poetry Anthology

Unsettling America: An Anthology of Contemporary Multicultural Poetry (1994)

Jewish-American

Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925)

Vietnamese-American

Lan Cao, Monkey Bridge (1997)

Anglo-American

William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (1620-1647)

(read with selections from the Exodus of the Bible)

Course webpage: http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/homepage.htm

Instructor: Craig White

Phone: 281 283 3380 Email: whitec@uhcl.edu

Office: 2529-8 Bayou Office Hours: M 3-4, T & Th 11:30-1 & by apptmt

Caveat: Data stated and contracts implied in this syllabus may change with minimal notice through fair hearings at class meetings.

Summary of Graded Assignments (details below)

(Percentages for final grade are only approximate. Numbers are not used in calculating final grades.)

· Midterm examination on immigrant narrative and comparison / contrast with minority experience (25 February; 20%.)

· Analytic / Research Paper or Journal. (Proposal due 18 March; Paper due 22 April; 30%).

· Final Examination (Monday, 6 May; 30%).

· Class participation, preparation, attendance, quiz grades, presentations, email submissions. Dates for presentations assigned at second class (20%).

Attendance policy: You are expected to attend every scheduled class meeting. You may take one free cut. If you miss more than one meeting, you start jeopardizing your status in the course. If you miss more than two classes (especially early!), consider dropping, unless prior arrangements are made. Partial absences also count negatively. If people leave frequently or in a group at break, their commitment to the class is called into question and they should account for their actions. Even with medical or other emergency excuses, a high number of absences or partial attendances will result in a lower or failing grade.

If shockingly absent, return and make contact (281-283-3380) or leave message ASAP. 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 (2001-2002 Catalog, pp. 74-77). Plagiarism—that is, using research without citations—will result in a grade penalty or failure of the course. 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.

Make-up exam policy: Ask way in advance for times before the regular exam. Professor has the right to refuse accommodations requested on short notice.

Objectives:

· "Objectives" are ideas and terms that are repeatedly developed and reinforced in lectures, discussions, presentations, and examinations. As learning outcomes, this course enables you to discuss American immigrant literature in the terms set up by these objectives.

· Since the subject matter of this Literature course rises from a fundamental characteristic of American culture, its objectives are divided into Literary and Cultural categories, but these categories may overlap, especially in "narrative."

· In the objectives below, "America" refers primarily to "The United States of America," and "Americans" to citizens or residents of the USA.

"The Immigrant Narrative"

(Background to all course objectives)

Fundamental to all the course's objectives and related themes is the Immigrant Narrative (a. k. a. "the American Dream narrative"). Most Americans are broadly conscious of its outlines. However, no single text tells the whole story. Below is a quick overview, but the stages or phases listed may be varied, divided, added to, or shared out among different characters or generations, so be prepared to improvise.

· Stage 1: Leave the Old World (“traditional societies” in Europe, Asia, or Latin America).

· Stage 2: Journey to the New World (here, the USA & modern culture)

· Stage 3: Shock, resistance, exploitation, and discrimination (here the immigrant experience overlaps with or resembles the minority experience)

· Stage 4: Assimilation to dominant American culture and loss of ethnic identity (departs or differs from minority experience)

· Stage 5: Rediscovery or reassertion of ethnic identity (usu. only partial).

Literary Objectives:

1. To comprehend the story of immigration as a fundamental narrative of American literature and culture.

1a. To define the concept of narrative as a literary and cultural category

1b. To criticize as well as celebrate the immigrant or American dream narrative.

1c. To explore the immigrant narrative as an organizing principle for studying multicultural literature. (see also Cultural Objective 1a.)

2. To chart the various literary permutations available to the narrative

2a. narrator or viewpoint: Who writes the immigrant narrative?

· First-generation? (rare, except among English-speaking peoples)

· Second-generation? (standard: the children of immigrants learn English and suffer a sense of division between ethnic and mainstream identities)

· Other?

2b. setting(s):

· Homeland? Journey? America? Return to homeland?

· Ghetto, barrio, or "ethnic enclave" as transition or limbo between two worlds.

(Literary Objectives continued)

2c. character by generation: to identify and question the standard generational roles or identities:

· first-generation as “heroic”

· second-generation as “divided”

· third generation as “assimilated”

3. To distinguish fictional and non-fictional modes of the immigrant narrative

3a. How can we tell when we're reading fiction or nonfiction? What “markers” or signs of difference both inside and outside the text alert the reader that the narrative is either fictional or non-fictional? Are these signs always accurate?

3b. How do narrative, viewpoint, and setting change from fiction to non-fiction, or vice-versa?

3c. How much may these two genres cross? (Genre-bending.)

3d. Most of our literary terms and objectives refer to prose narratives, but we also experience and examine another crucial genre: lyric poems. How does poetry, which is generally non-narrative, represent the Immigrant Narrative differently?

4. To become sensitized to immigrant literature’s effects on English and to the variant English styles practiced by different ethnic groups.

4a. Immigrant speech is identifiable as such but, overall, Standard American English seems less affected by immigrant speech than by minority speech. Immigrant speech is expected to conform or assimilate to standard, whereas minority speech may assert its difference.

4b. In American media it is unacceptable to mock minority speech but acceptable to imitate immigrant speech--e. g., the way most standup comics can do a Middle Eastern or Asian convenience store clerk, such as Apu in the Simpsons.

4c. (Cultural comparison: immigrant foods—from German Frankfurters & Hamburgers to Chinese and Italian restaurants—are highly identifiable as mainstream cuisine, while minority foods—from popcorn to Barbecue—are rarely acknowledged as such. On yet another hand, English or dominant-culture food is almost unidentifiable as ethnic; spiciness or its lack has to do with climate, but another reason English food is bland may be so it won’t distract us from working.)

Cultural Objectives

1. To identify the immigrant narrative as the fundamental story-line of the dominant culture in the USA.

1a. American Dream versus American Nightmare: To compare and contrast the immigrant narrative with the minority narrative.

· Comparison: immigrants may experience problems of “minority” cultures in the first generation(s), and they may suffer discrimination and marginalization by the dominant culture on account of racial and cultural differences as long as those differences are visible or audible.

· Contrast: the “social contracts” of immigrants and minorities differ. Immigrants like the Chinese, Germans, Dominicans, Irish, or Italians voluntarily participate in the “American Dream” migration pattern of immigrating to America for personal freedom and economic betterment, Minority groups, esp. African Americans and Native Americans, involuntarily join the “American Nightmare”: forced participation.

· Mexican Americans, sometimes known as “the ambivalent minority,” have an identity somewhere between the immigrant and minority patterns. Though many Mexicans immigrate to the USA, the states to which they primarily immigrate (such as Texas and California) were once part of Mexico. This land was taken from Mexico in much the same manner as other American lands were taken from Indians. Racially, too, Mexicans may fall in between, as they may be descended from Europeans (immigrant culture) and / or from Indians and / or African Americans (both minority groups).

1b. To observe cultural variations in the Immigrant Narrative by different nations, at different historical periods, or under different national conditions.

· “National migration,” in contrast to the immigration of individuals or families, especially the “Great Migration” of Pilgrims and Puritans to early North America and their historical model, the ancient Hebrews migrating from Egypt to Canaan. These national groups resist assimilation and intermarriage with the people whose land they occupy, but other elements of the immigrant narrative may continue. American Jews have followed this pattern until recent generations, when intermarriage has increased.

· “Internal immigration,” such as the “Great Migration” of African Americans from the Old Confederacy to northern states in the early 20^th Century.

· “Socioeconomic Immigration,” in which economic success or failure leads families to move from one class or neighborhood to another, with resulting challenges to assimilate to new values, language patterns, courtship patterns, etc. Marriage into another class or ethnic group can repeat this pattern for individuals.

1c. To complicate the dominant European-American culture’s east-to-west direction for migration by including immigrants from South to North (Mexico, the Caribbean) and from the East to the West (Asia, the Pacific).

(Cultural objectives continued)

2. To observe and analyze the effects of immigration and assimilation on American cultural units or identities:

· family: (Old World: extended family; New World: nuclear family)

· generations: generational tensions over assimilation, expectations. (see also Literary Objective 2c.)

· gender (usually traditional in homeland and modern in America)

· community and laws, especially the change from traditional or family laws and a distant, autocratic state to impersonal laws and a democratic, regulated state

· religion: Old World: religion and political/cultural identity closely related; New World: secular state, private religion.

· How do immigrants change America?

3. To contrast the “New Immigrant Model” with the “Old Immigrant Model.”

· “Old Immigrant Model”: because of the danger and cost of journey by boat, past immigrants found it more difficult to return and were expected to cut ties to the Old World in order to assimilate to American culture

· “New Immigrant Model”: improved communications and air transportation may enable recent immigrants to feel less pressure to forget the homeland and to assimilate to American culture as rapidly as earlier immigrants

· The biculturalism and bilingualism of “New Immigrants” may contribute to or reflect an emerging global identity in which human beings are less defined or restricted by nationality.

· “Vertical immigration”: recent tendency of earth societies to organize into a first world-third world, upper class-lower class, penthouse-street, electronic media-real time division.

4. To acknowledge the international or global nature of immigration.

· The great waves of immigration from Europe (17^th through 19^th centuries) occurred simultaneously with Europe’s colonization of Asia, Africa, and the Pacific.

· Many American and European immigrants today come from lands formerly colonized by Europeans or European-Americans.

5. To use the immigrant experience to "defamiliarize" the American experience. (To "defamiliarize" means to turn something familiar and comfortable into something suddenly strange, to transform the "natural" to the "cultural," and to bring unconscious habit to the level of intellectual analysis.)

· What do immigrants see about America that the native-born cannot? (See also Cultural Objectives 6 & 7)

(Cultural objectives continued)

6. To acknowledge and criticize the different values projected on ethnic homelands and on America (examples below are positive / negative):

Homeland	America
Strife, division, dislocation / “tribal” identities; sense of home, identity	Equality, tolerance / anomie, rootlessness, extreme individualism
Stagnation / picturesqueness	Opportunity / chaos

7. To observe competing economic ideals or states exposed by immigrant literature.

7a. To identify communal or utopian elements such as Bradford’s discussion of the commonwealth and Jewish immigrants’ interests in Marxism, as well as “Old World” concepts of community, social obligations, and limits..

7b. To discuss the immigrants’ shock at and adaptation to American economic models, variously identified as Social Darwinism, competitive individualism, laissez-faire, freemarket, high-growth capitalism

7c. A surprising feature in immigrant literature (and perhaps elsewhere): the identification of shopping and sexuality. (Consistent with Darwinian survival through competitive sexuality)

7d. To acknowledge the difficulty of stabilizing an American society founded on act of revolution (i. e., leaving the past behind); compare to the nation’s revolutionary founding in the Declaration of Independence, which breaks off ties with the “Mother Country” much as an immigrant does with the Old World.

8. To monitor the importance of public education to the assimilation stage of the immigrant narrative.

8a. To consider the significance of free education as a starting point for the American Dream of economic success. (first rung on the ladder)

8b. While private schools may more successfully instill “traditional values” and provide stability for chaotic lives, public education’s secular status and willingness to innovate may prepare immigrants for the ever-changing American economic scene. (This may further relate to the struggle over whether to teach Darwinian Evolution in a Social Darwinist state.)

Email and webpage contributions

This course has a webpage featuring basic information about the course and student models of required assignments. The web address is http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/homepage.htm. If convenient, install it as a “favorite” on your web browser for easy access.

Each student must make at least three or four contributions to the webpage through the instructor via email or other electronic means.

Required email contributions:

1. Presentation handout and discussion summary

2. Midterm, or selections from midterm (may not be required)

3. Research proposal

4. Research project

Optional email contributions:

· final exam

Email address: Send all emails to whitec@uhcl.edu. Note the "c" at the end of "whitec." If you send the email to "white" only, it goes to the wrong professor.

Contents and attachments: Try both of the following

· Paste the contents of the appropriate word processing file directly into the email message.

· “Attach” your word processing file to an email message. (My computer and most of its programs work off of Microsoft Word 2000. The only word processing program my computer appears unable to translate is Microsoft Works, though Microsoft Word is fine, as are most others. If in doubt, save your word processing file in "Rich Text Format" or a “text only” format.)

If you cannot reach me by email, save your file to a 3 & ½ “ floppy disk and give it to me. If you put your name on the disk, I’ll eventually return it to you.

Student computer access: Every enrolled student at UHCL is assigned an email account on the university server. For information about receiving your account name and password, call the university help desk at 281 283 2828.

Reassurances: You are not graded on your expertise in electronic media but on your intelligence in reading discussing, and writing about literature. I’ve tried similar email exercises for several semesters; a few students encounter a few problems, but, if we don’t give up, these problems always work out. Your course grade will not suffer for mistakes with email and related issues as long as I see you making a fair effort.

Descriptions of Graded Assignments

Midterm exam--Date: 25 Feb. Relative weight: 20% of final grade

Content: Immigrant narrative, esp. compared and contrasted with minority narrative Format: open-book and open-notebook.

Materials: Write in blue or black ink in spaces provided on exam sheet or on paper of your own. Email students should work things out according to the instructions above.

Time: The exam should take at least two hours to complete, but you may use the entire class period (2 hours and 50 minutes) as you like. In-class students will be given the exam at 4pm and must turn it in by 6:50. All students will be emailed the exam at approximately 3:45pm, at which time the exam will also be posted on the course webpage. Email students must return their exam by 8pm. The time is flexible to account for possible interruptions. However, email students should spend no more than 2 hours and 50 minutes in writing the exam, and they should keep a log indicating when they start and stop. (Pauses or interruptions are okay.)

Length: Given different writing styles, length is hard to estimate, but generally the best exams have more writing, while less impressive exams look scanty.

Organization: Two sets and types of questions and answers:

1. “Identify and signify.” Write your answers in the spaces provided on the question sheet, or otherwise index the questions by numbers. You will be given passages from the class readings or concepts or terms from class lectures and discussions. In the case of quoted passages, first you will “identify” the passage by author, title, and context in the work from which they are taken; second, you will “signify”—that is, highlight and discuss themes, ideas, and style features of the passage in relation to course lectures and discussions. This part of the exam should take approximately one hour. For part 1, you will likely be given some choices—e. g., you might choose 3 out of 4 quotations and 3 out of 4 terms.

2. “Essay question(s).” You will write an essay in response to a question centering on the "Background to all course objectives: 'The Immigrant Narrative,'" Literary Objective 1 (esp. parts a & c) and Cultural Objective 1 (esp. part a). You are expected to refer to your readings, relate them to the main themes of the course, and offer original interpretations or extensions of class themes as appropriate.

Email midterm contributions: Selections from midterms will be uploaded to the course webpage as examples of outstanding work for present and future students. If you take the midterm by email, the instructor will simply copy selections from your file. If you take the midterm in-class, the process is as follows: the instructor will highlight selections in your midterm; you will email the selections to the instructor at whitec@uhcl.edu; the instructor will upload the selections to the webpage.

Webpage examples: You may see samples of good student answers to a similar midterm by going to the “Model Assignments” index of the course webpage or by going directly to http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/mid2k1sps.htm

Research Project

Examples on webpage: Students may see examples of previous student research proposals (and instructor’s replies) and student research projects by going to the index under the “Model Assignments” tab or by going directly to

http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/pro1dex.htm (2001 proposals)

http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/p1dex.htm (2001 projects index)

Students have a choice of two options for their research projects.

· Option 1 is a traditional 7-10 page analytic / research essay relevant to the course.

· Option 2 is a 10-15 page journal of research and reflections concerning a variety of materials relevant to the course.

Weight: approximately 30% of final grade

Due dates:

· proposal due 18 March

· project due 22 April

Lengths:

· option 1 (analytic / research essay): 7-10 pages + "Works Cited"

· option 2 (journal) 10-15 pages.

Research proposal: Due via email by 18 March (or before).

Write at least two paragraphs containing the following information:

· Indicate which option—Option 1 (essay) or Option 2 (journal)—your research project will take. (If you are trying to choose between the two options, start your email by explaining the situation. If you are trying to choose between different subjects, do the same--explain and explore the situation.

· If Option 1, list the primary text(s) you intend to work with. Explain the source of your interest, why the topic is significant, and what you hope to find out through your research. Describe any reading or research you have already done and how useful it has been.

· If Option 2, mention your possible choices of topics for categories listed in Option 2 (journal) requirements.

· For either option, conclude by asking the instructor at least one question about your topic, possible sources for research, or the writing of your research project.

· Email or otherwise transmit an electronic version of your proposal to me at whitec@uhcl.edu.

· Research report proposals will be posted on the course webpage.

· If you want to confer about your possible topic before submitting a proposal, feel free to confer with me in person, by phone, or by email.

Research Project (continued)

Response to Paper Proposal

· The instructor will email you a reaction okaying the proposal and / or making any necessary suggestions.

· You are welcome to continue going back and forth with the instructor on email until you are satisfied with your direction.

· Student does not receive a letter grade for the proposal, only a “yes” or instructions for receiving a yes. Students will not lose credit for problems in reaching a topic as long as they are working to resolve these problems.

· The only way you can start getting into trouble over the proposal is if you simply don’t offer very much to work with, especially after prompts from instructor. An example of a really bad proposal is one sentence starting with “I’m thinking about” and ending with “doing something about immigration and gender,” then asking, “What do you think?” In these cases, a bad grade won’t be recorded, but the deep hole the student has dug will be remembered. Notes regarding the paper proposal may appear on the Final Grade Report.

Description of Research Options:

Option 1 (analytic / research essay) requirements

· This option involves a more or less "standard College English paper" in which the student analyzes a literary text or texts.

· The topic is open to any type of literary analysis, but it must have some relevance to the course. That is, a member of the class reading your essay would be able to recognize the relevance of the text or its major themes.

· Possible topics: tracing in one text, or comparing and contrasting in more than one text the development of a theme, image, symbol, usage of language, character type, plot pattern, or conflict.

· In terms of primary texts, you may choose a text from beyond this course, but if you use more than one primary text, at least one should be from the course readings.

· In terms of research, you must incorporate references to at least three secondary and background sources--that is, your research sources must include both secondary and background types of research; the distinction will be explained.

· Follow MLA style for documentation and mechanics.

· Length: 7-10 pages + Works Cited

· Research Requirements: One or two primary sources; at least 3 secondary and background sources (distinction explained below). At least one source should be "print"--i. e., not from the internet.

Research Project (continued)

Option 2 (journal) requirements

If you choose the journal option, you are not choosing an option that involves less work than the traditional research paper option. You are expected to do just as much work and your writing will be judged by similar standards. However, the writing may be less centrally or consistently focused on one subject. Thus you may pursue several subjects, which may not perfectly cohere. All the same, I expect to see good absorption and expression of research and well-polished if exploratory writing. (In brief, the journal I read should not be your first drafts.)

Required and optional journal elements, with suggested page limits:

(The optional elements may be added to and varied as your research develops.)

· Introduction (required): 1-2 pages summarizing purpose and organization of journal.

· Review of at least three secondary sources having to do with immigrant literature, however broadly or specifically focused. These articles might pertain to our class readings or to your research on an ethnic group or an immigrant author. (At least one page each. Head report with bibliographic citation, followed by a review of the scholar’s argument, evidence, and usefulness.) (At least 3 pages; these sources should be from printed materials, not the Web.)

· Brief history of immigration and immigrant literature by a particular ethnic group (e. g., Italian-American, Chinese-American, Caribbean-American, Mexican-American), including a bibliography. (The bibliography may be embedded in the text of this review.) (3 pages)

· Review of one or more websites relevant to your subject. Review contents, accuracy, usefulness. (1-2 pages each)

· The following elements are more optional: reflection on your own family’s immigration history (2-4 pages; interviews with family members?); interviews with recent immigrants regarding immigrant experience plus their reading habits (3-5 pages; regarding reading habits, what literature do they find relevant to their experience?)

· Other possible items may be mentioned as the semester progresses. Also consider combining categories—for instance, your “immigrant author” could be from the “ethnic group” you also investigate. The journal is necessarily a "loose" form, so let your findings dictate your organization.

· Conclusion (required): 1-2 pages summarizing what you have learned, what you would do next if you continued your research, how it might be applied.

Research Project (continued)

Explanation of Research Terms

Primary texts. In research writing for literature, primary texts are usually works of fiction, poetry, or drama, though other genres may be similarly analyzed. Background and secondary research. You are required to refer directly to at least three background and secondary sources, though your mix of these three may vary, and of course you may refer to more than three.

Background sources refer to handbooks, encyclopedias, and companions to literature that provide basic generic, biographical, or historical information. For purposes of Literature, these books are generally shelved in the PR and PS sections of the Reference section of the library.

Secondary sources refer to critical articles about particular authors or texts. (When you write your analytic / research paper, you are creating a secondary source.) These may take the form of articles or books. Articles may be found in journals or in bound collections of essays. Secondary books may be found on the regular shelves of the library. To find secondary sources, perform a database search on the MLA directory in the Reference section of the library--the reference librarians will help you.

Documentation style: MLA style (parenthetical documentation + Works Cited page, as described in the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 4^th or 5^th edition.

Other mechanical issues: A cover sheet is not necessary.

Email copy of paper to instructor at whitec@uhcl.edu. You are welcome to give me a hard copy on or around the due date, but before the semester is over you are required to provide an electronic copy.

Student Presentations, Responses, & Records

Every student will lead (or share in leading) one class presentation, and each student will also serve in a supporting role for one or more other presentations.

Each student will make one of two types of presentations—either as the reader and chief interpreter of a poem from the Unsettling America anthology, or as a presenter in a fiction-nonfiction dialogue. In either case, the student presenter is responsible for making a presentation, leading and responding to the following discussion, and submitting the finished presentation summary to the instructor via email for posting to the webpage.

Poetry presentations are recommended for less experienced students, and fiction-nonfiction dialogues for more experienced students.

Presentation assignments listed in the reading schedule will be decided partly by student choice and partly by chance; student preferences are not guaranteed. On the opening class day (14 January), students may indicate their preferences on an ID card, and volunteers will be solicited for the presentations on 28 January. On that day everyone will be given a schedule assigning students to particular presentation assignments for the rest of the semester.

Student Presentations, Responses, & Records (continued)

Poetry Presentation:

The Poetry Presentation assignment relates to Objective 2d. . . . to examine how lyric poems represent different stages of the Immigrant Narrative.

The assigned student will introduce, read, interpret, and lead a discussion an assigned poem from the Unsettling America anthology. (The assignments appear in the reading schedule below, though some poems may be added or cut according to need.)

The interpretation should relate to a course objective (besides 2d) and focus on the poem’s immigrant themes (or, in the case of "minority" poems, the minority themes and their comparisons or contrasts with immigrant themes).

Also consider the following subjects concerning the poem:

· Identify which generation in the immigrant narrative is speaking.

· Identify the "stage" (or combination of stages) of immigrant narrative: Leaving, journeying, the shock of America, assimilation, or reconnection?

· Compare to the day’s prose narratives? What does a lyric poem accomplish that a prose narrative cannot?

· Many other topics may be suggested by the Course Objectives.

Format for poetry presentation:

1. 10-minute time limit. Ten minutes is the time limit in terms of your presentation itself (i. e., not counting discussion). If some shorter poems do not require 10 minutes, don't feel the need to stretch out your presentation. If your poem is quite long, extra time may be allowed, or consider reading parts of it.

2. Before reading the poem, cite one or two course objectives relevant to your interpretation, and begin your interpretation. Your interpretation of the poem may be divided before and after the reading of the poem. You may provide some brief biography of the poet (see pp. 385-400), but this is not necessary and may be distracting. Concentrate on the poem itself.

3. Read the poem aloud. Look up unfamiliar words and practice pronunciations. (Feel free to ask for help beforehand.) Try to read with feeling and comprehension.

4. After reading, briefly complete your interpretation. In general, students are most ready to discuss soon after the reading, so don't lose that opportunity.

5. If the poem has a previously-existing web summary, make at least one reference to the points raised about the poem in that presentation or discussion.

6. Begin discussion by asking a question. The best way to begin a discussion is by asking a question. Therefore, your last steps in the poetry presentation (besides leading and responding to discussion) are to wrap up your interpretation and to ask the other members of the class a question relevant to what you've said up to that point. (Sometimes they’ll just sit there, so you might have an extra question ready; sometimes they’ll want to discuss something besides what you asked, but that’s okay; sometimes you have to keep asking and trying different angles until you get a response.) Discussion may go up to 10 minutes beyond the presentation itself.

7. Respondent joins discussion. (see below for Respondent's role.)

8. Recorder takes notes of discussion.

9. Email instructor summary of presentation & discussion. For posting to the webpage, the presenter emails to the instructor a 2-3 paragraph summary of the presentation plus 2-3 paragraphs reviewing the highlights of the discussion, prepared with the help of the recorder. Be sure to include respondent's comments. (Attribute by name.) The presenter is welcome to consult with the respondent, the recorder, and other discussion participants as much as is helpful.

Respondent: The “respondent” is first responsible for having read the assigned poem before the class meeting and for having some interpretations in mind. When the presenter asks the question to begin discussion, the respondent should not “jump in” immediately but should watch to see how or if discussion develops before beginning to contribute. The respondent may speak for a minute or two at once or may make two or three briefer remarks during discussion. The respondent is encouraged not to bail out of his or her duties by shrugging that “They’ve already said it.”

Recorder: An assigned student will take notes of the discussion, writing down as much as possible of what students say and connecting it, if possible, to names. (Instructor will help with names.) The note taker will share these with the reader and consult as far as desirable in helping with the email / webpage summary (see below). The reader and note taker may share and consult in person, by phone, or by email.

Examples of Email / Webpage summaries: You will find examples of web summaries of poetry presentations and discussions from the previous offering of this course under the “Model Assignments” tab on the course webpage, or go directly to http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/poetprsns.htm. Remember that if your poem was presented in an earlier semester, you are responsible for making at least one reference to the ideas or interpretations in the summary.

(Student Presentations, Responses, & Records continued)

Fiction-Nonfiction dialogues:

This is an innovative, cooperative student presentation premised on

Literary Objective 3. To distinguish fictional and non-fictional modes of the immigrant narrative

3b. How do narrative, viewpoint, and setting change from fiction to non-fiction, or vice-versa?

3c. How much may these two genres cross? (Genre-bending.)

Overall, the spirit of this presentation is summarized in the last word of 3c: “Genre-bending.” As with “gender-bending,” the Readers and discussion participants may enjoy seeing how supposedly fixed categories or genres like fiction and nonfiction can overlap, and how, at least in literary representation, what is supposedly “real” and what is supposedly “made up” are often entangled with each other. Such insights may be at once frustrating and liberating, critical but creative.

In terms of student leadership and preparation, each Fiction-Nonfiction dialogue involves two student leaders and one recorder. The subject matter involves one Fiction Text and one Nonfiction Text from the day's assigned readings.

The two student leaders will be designated the Fiction Reader and the Nonfiction Reader. Here is a suggested order of presentation. However, by mutual agreement, Readers could reverse or otherwise change the order throughout. Also, Readers are encouraged to experiment with different approaches for inviting discussion.

Fiction-Nonfiction dialogues—suggested order of presentation

1. The Fiction Reader will explain how and why the Fiction Text may be identified as fictional, highlighting some passages, defining or summarizing the markers, and identifying some of the pleasures fiction provides. (3-5 minutes)

2. The Nonfiction Reader responds by pointing out elements of the Fiction Text that may also appear to be Nonfiction. (1-2 minutes)

3. The Fiction and Nonfiction Reader may open up the floor for discussion of the fictional and nonfictional elements of the Fiction Text.

4. The Nonfiction Reader then turns to the Nonfiction Text, explaining how and why it may be identified as nonfiction, highlighting some passages, defining or summarizing the markers, and identifying some of the pleasures nonfiction provides. (3-5 minutes)

Student Presentations, Responses, & Records

Fiction-Nonfiction Dialogue (continued)

5. The Fiction Reader responds by pointing out elements of the Nonfiction Text that may also appear to be fiction. (1-2 minutes)

6. The Fiction and Nonfiction Reader may open up the floor for discussion of the fictional and nonfictional elements of the Fiction Text.

7. At some point during the presentation or discussion, both readers should refer to at least one idea from any pre-existing web summary of their subjects.

8. Instructor adds, summarizes, and relates points raised in other fiction-nonfiction dialogues.

Fiction Reader and Nonfiction Reader are welcome to consult and prepare together as much as they like beforehand, or they may just show up prepared with their own materials and react to each other. Also, any presenters (whether of poetry or fiction-nonfiction dialogues) are invited to consult with the instructor beforehand.

Recorder: The Recorder’s job is to take notes of the discussion sections of the presentation. The recorder will then provide the notes to the presenters for their email / webpage summary. These notes may be provided in person, by email, by phone, or some combination.

Email / webpage summary: The Fiction and Nonfiction Readers are responsible together for preparing together a summary of their presentation and discussion (with the Recorder's help). In a few detailed paragraphs the Readers should indicate the passages they referred to and summarize their insights. They should also organize the Recorder’s notes into readable form. The complete report should be emailed to the instructor at whitec@uhcl.edu for posting to the course webpage. The main goal in the summary’s composition is to provide an interesting and readable account for future students to consult. Since this is a cooperative venture, there is always the risk that one reader will slack off or be distracted, and the other reader will have to do most of the work. Both readers should feel free to confer with instructor on such issues.

Examples of Email / Webpage summaries: You will find examples of web summaries of fiction-nonfiction dialogues and discussions from the previous offering of this course under the “Model Assignments” tab on the course webpage, or go directly to http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/fnfdials.htm. Remember that if your poem was presented in an earlier semester, you must make at least one reference to the ideas or interpretations in the summary. Further discussions of fiction-nonfiction may be found on the final exam samples at http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/fin1sps.htm

(Student Presentations, Responses, & Records continued)

“Silent Grade” for presentation, responses, etc.

You are graded for the quality of your work in presentations, responses, and general class participation, but this grade is not announced until the end of the semester, when it is recorded in the general grade tally that is included in your final exam. The reason for this “silent grade” is to avoid unproductive behavior from students in relation to the presentations, such as second-guessing, comparing grades, competing to each other’s detriment, or performing to the teacher. Altogether the presentations are a cooperative exercise on the part of the class, so it’s better to keep grading out of sight; however, since some students would work less otherwise, the leverage of a grade is necessary.

Your roles as respondents and recorders are not a major feature of your grade unless you simply shirk and draw attention to yourself for lack of cooperation. You are expected to help your presenter in the same spirit that you would like to be helped.

One potential complication is that the Fiction and Nonfiction Readers are responsible for a joint email / webpage submission. If problems arise because one Reader has to do too much work while another Reader may take too much credit, one or both should speak to the instructor, who will try to resolve the situation as reasonably as possible.

Final Exam--Date: Monday, 6 May: Final Exam 4-6:50pm

Relative weight: 30% of final grade Format: In-class or email

Time: The exam should take at least two hours and a half to complete, but you may use the entire class period (2 hours and 50 minutes). In-class students will be given the exam at 4pm and must turn it in by 6:50. All students will be emailed the exam at approximately 3:45, when the exam will also be posted on the course webpage. Email students must mail in the exam by 8pm. The time is flexible to account for possible interruptions. However, email students should spend no more than 2 hours and 50 minutes in writing the exam, and they should keep a log indicating when they start and stop. (Pauses or interruptions are okay.)

Length: Given different writing styles, length is hard to estimate, but generally the best exams have more writing, while the less impressive exams look scanty.

Course content & Exam Organization: Three essay questions:

· National migration (Jewish-American and Pilgrim literature) compared to the standard Immigrant Narrative

· Asian American Immigrant Narratives

· Fiction-nonfiction comparison or poetry analysis.

Coverage: Refer to assigned readings & lectures and discussions since midterm, and to fiction-nonfiction presentations and poetry presentations throughout the semester.

Final exam samples on course webpage: look under “Model Assignments” or go directly to http://www.uhcl.edu/itc/course/LITR/4333/fin1sps.htm

Reading Quizzes: Most class meetings will feature a short, objective reading quiz based on the day’s assigned readings.

· These quizzes are given one time only. If you come in after the quiz has been given, or if you miss a class, please do not ask if you can take the quiz. I strongly appreciate your not asking me, and I very much dislike being asked.

· Even if you do not know the answers, you should turn in a quiz with your name on it, as I often use the quizzes for taking attendance.

· Answer the questions as briefly and accurately as possible, as I grade them very quickly. In most cases, a few words or phrases will suffice. You do not need to answer in complete sentences.

· Grades will range from “checks” for correct answers to “X’s” for no right answers to combinations of these grades with pluses or minuses for combinations of right and wrong answers. Occasionally one or two students in the class will receive a “check-plus” for answers that are not only accurate but entertaining, insightful, or otherwise impressive.

· You are expected to make checks or check-minuses on all but one or two of your quizzes. Failure to take or turn in quizzes, or overall quiz grades noticeably lower than the class average, can result in a much lower overall course grade, beyond the declared weight of the quizzes.

Final Grade Report

I will turn in final grades to the registrar according to the usual procedures. Students may check their final grades by calling the university’s EASE line. However, I will email each student a tally of their grades. Though this message should be accurate, it will be “unofficial” in that none of its information aside from the final grade will be recorded or supported by the university registrar. The message will appear thus:

LITR 4333: American Immigrant Literature

STUDENT NAME

Contact information

Absences:

Quiz grades:

Presentation grade: (plus or minus a few notes on quality of presentation)

Midterm grade:

Research project proposal:

Research project grade:

Final exam grade:

Course grade:

LITR 4333 2001 reading schedule

IA = Imagining America

VA = Visions of America

UA = Unsettling America

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Monday, 14 January: introduction

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Monday, 21 January: holiday, Martin Luther King Day

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Immigrants & Minorities + New World Immigration

Monday, 28 January: Examples of the Minority Narrative. Anzia Yezierska, “Soap and Water” (IA 105-110); Nicholasa Mohr, “The English Lesson” (IA 21-33); Barbara Grizzuti Harrison, “Going Home: Brooklyn Revisited” (VA 158-169); June Jordan, “Report from the Bahamas” (VA 305-315)

Poetry presentation: Joseph Papaleo, “American Dream: First Report,” UA 88

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

***

Fiction-nonfiction dialogue

Fiction text: “The English Lesson” Fiction reader:

Nonfiction text: “Going Home: Brooklyn Revisited” Nonfiction reader:

Recorder:

************

Monday, 4 February: Minorities and the immigrant narrative. James Baldwin, from No Name in the Street (VA 284-290); Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” (IA 139-145); Leslie Marmon Silko, “The Man to Send Rain Clouds” (IA 191-195); Louise Erdrich, "American Horse" (IA 196-206)

Poetry presentation: Patricia Smith, “Blonde White Women,” UA 77

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

Poetry presentation: Chrystos, “I Have Not Signed a Treaty with the United States Government,” UA 304

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

Fiction-nonfiction dialogue

Fiction text: Toni Cade Bambara, “The Lesson” Fiction reader:

Nonfiction text: from No Name in the Street Nonfiction reader:

Recorder:

************

Monday, 11 February: Non-Mexican Latin American or Caribbean Immigrants. Emilio Diaz Valcarcel, "Grandma's Wake" (IA 346-350); Judith Ortiz Cofer, "Silent Dancing" (VA 179-186) Paule Marshall, “The Making of a Writer: From the Poets in the Kitchen” (VA 82-89); Paule Marshall, “To Da-Duh, in Memoriam” (IA 351-360)

Poetry presentation: Jose Angel Villalongo, Sr., “In the Good Old U. S. A.,” UA 328

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

Poetry presentation: Martin Espada, “Coca-Cola and Coco Frio,” UA 124

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

Fiction-nonfiction dialogue

Fiction text: “The Making of a Writer . . . ” Fiction reader:

Nonfiction text: “To Da-Duh, in Memoriam” Nonfiction reader:

Recorder:

************

Monday, 18 February: Mexican Americans as Immigrants or as Ambivalent Minority? Richard Rodriguez, from Hunger of Memory (VA 229-235);

Gary Soto, “Like Mexicans” (VA 301-304); Nash Candelaria, "El Patron" (IA 215-221); Sandra Cisneros, "Barbie-Q" (IA 252-253)

Poetry presentation: Pat Mora, “Immigrants,” UA 119

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

****

Poetry presentation: Tino Villanueva, “Haciendo Apenas la Recoleccion,” UA 191

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

****

Fiction-nonfiction dialogue

Fiction text: "El Patron" Fiction reader:

Nonfiction text: “Like Mexicans” Nonfiction reader:

Recorder:

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Monday, 25 February: midterm exam

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Monday, 4 March: Spring Break

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Asian American Immigrant Literature

Monday, 11 March: Sui Sin Far, "In the Land of the Free" (IA 3-11); Maxine Hong Kingston, from The Woman Warrior (VA 195-200); Lan Cao, Monkey Bridge

Fiction-nonfiction dialogue

Fiction text: "In the Land of the Free" Fiction reader:

Nonfiction text: from The Woman Warrior Nonfiction reader:

Recorder:

Poetry presentation: Nellie Wong, “When I was Growing Up,” UA 55

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

************

Monday, 18 March: Research Proposal due

complete Lan Cao, Monkey Bridge

Poetry presentation: Shirley Geok-lin Lim, “Father from Asia,” UA 19

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

************

Monday, 25 March: Bharati Mukherjee, “A Wife’s Story” (IA 64-75); Bharati Mukherjee, “Love Me or Leave Me” (VA 187-194)

Fiction-nonfiction dialogue

Fiction text: “A Wife’s Story” Fiction reader:

Nonfiction text: “Love Me or Leave Me” Nonfiction reader:

Recorder:

****

Poetry presentation: Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, “Restroom,” UA 21-23

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

************

Prototypes of the American Dominant Culture:

The Ancient Jews & New England

Monday, 1 April: Jewish-American: Chosen People in the New World. Anzia Yezierska, Bread Givers (1925)

Poetry presentation: Louis Simpson, “A Story about Chicken Soup,” UA 245

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

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Monday, 8 April: Jewish-American (continued). Sonia Pilcer, “2G” (VA 201-206); Eva Hoffman, from Lost in Translation: A Life in a New Language (VA 219-228); Other Middle Eastern Immigrants. Mikhail Naimy, “His Grace” (IA 111-116); Tahira Naqvi, “Thank God for the Jews” (IA 222-229); Anton Shammas, “Amerka, Amerka: A Palestinian Abroad in the Land of the Free” (VA 291-300);

Poetry presentation: Gregg Shapiro, “Tattoo,” UA 34-5

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

Poetry presentation: Gregory Djanikian, “In the Elementary School Choir,” UA 215

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

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Monday, 15 April:

selections from the Exodus story in the Old Testament of the Bible (student provides; King James / Revised Standard version preferred);

Exodus, chapters 1-15; chapter 16, verses 1-4; chapter 20; chapter 31, verse 12 through chapter 32 complete.

Leviticus, chapter 18, verses 1-5

Numbers, chapter 14, verses 1-6; chapters 33, 34.

Deuteronomy, chapter 7, verses 1-6; chapter 11, verses 10-17

Joshua, chapter 24

Judges, chapter 2, verses 1-15

Poetry presentation: Michael S. Glaser, “Preparations for Seder,” UA 176

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

Poetry presentation: Hamod (Sam), “After the Funeral of Assam Hamady,” UA 288

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

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Monday, 22 April:

Research Project due

The Pilgrims and the Hebrew model of national migration; prototype of white exclusiveness and purity? William Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (introduction, esp. p. xxii; chapters I-IV).

Monday, 22 April (continued):

Poetry presentation: Enid Dame, “On the Road to Damascus, Maryland,” UA 141

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

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Monday, 29 April: The Pilgrims, the Hebrew model of national migration, and late Anglo-American culture / vertical immigration. Of Plymouth Plantation (V, 29-32;VI, 45 middle paragraph; VII, 49-50, 57; VIII, 59-61; IX; X; XI, 83-89; XII, 96-100, 107 bottom paragraph; XIV, 128-129, 132-134, 143-146; XV, 160-161; XIX, 224-232; ch. 21, p. 62; XXIII, 281-283; XXXII, 351; XXXIII, 364-368; 370-1); Jonathan Raban, from Hunting Mr. Heartbreak: A Discovery of America (VA, 344-356)

Poetry presentation: Lyn Lifshin, “Being Jewish in a Small Town,” UA 144

Reader:

Respondent: Recorder:

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Monday, 6 May: final exam