LITR 5535 American Romanticism UHCL lecture notes

LITR 5535 American Romanticism

Edgar Allan Poe, “Ligeia” & “Fall of the House of Usher”; William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily"

midterm
research proposals
forthcoming email
today's schedule
poetry: Corey
[break]
discuss Poe
Faulkner reading:
next week's assignments

Poe (1809-49)

Monday 2 October: Take-home midterm exam due within 72 hours of class meeting. Edgar Allan Poe, N 694-696, 704-727 (“Ligeia” & “Fall of the House of Usher”); William Faulkner, “N 2160-66.

selection reader / discussion leader: Bonnie Napoli

poetry: Poe, "Anabelle Lee," N 2671

poetry reader / discussion leader: Corey Porter

midterms

model assignments

Nobody’s late so far

72-hour limit = Thursday morning or Friday night

will return midterms to you by email—maybe by next class, so check Sunday night or Monday morning--but maybe not, so don't worry if delayed

Your reactions to my reactions . . .

Welcome to email back (or phone or confer)—grading is very sensitive material, so the temptation is to keep it out of sight and refuse discussion, but look at it as another learning / teaching opportunity

Remind you that usually no line-editing unless indicated—but will line-edit with you if you like.

Research proposals

app. 2 weeks from today . . .

Monday 16 October: Research Proposal Due (within 72 hours of class). Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, N 812-834. Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life . . . , N 939-973.

selection reader / discussion leader: Tish Wallace

poetry: Robert Hayden, "Those Winter Sundays," N 2669

poetry reader / discussion leader: Anuruddha Ellakkala

(from syllabus)

Research Project

Examples on webpage: Students should review examples of previous student research proposals and projects on the “Model Assignments” sub-page of our course webpage.

Students may choose from two options for their research projects.

· Option 1: 12-15 page traditional analytic / research essay relevant to course.

· Option 2: 15-20 page journal of research and reflections concerning a variety of materials relevant to the course.

Weight: approximately 40% of final grade

Due dates:

· proposal due via email within 72 hours of 16 October

· project due via email due within 72 hours of 13 November

Research proposal: Due via email within 72 hours of 16 October.

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’re stuck between the options, or trying to choose between different subjects, explain and explore the situation—I’ll reply as helpfully as I can.)

· 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 and areas of research for categories listed in Option 2 (journal) requirements.

· Explain the source of your interest, why the topic matters, and what you want to learn.

· Mention the types of research you intend, e. g., Background (encyclopedias, handbooks, critical digests, etc.), Secondary (advanced scholarly articles or books exploring a particular question, or reviews of scholarly books), etc.

· 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, welcome to confer in person, by phone, or email.

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 Poe,” 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.

Model assignments

biggest issues for my new students:

difference / choosing between essay and journal

What's expected in a journal? (it's not a diary or a junk-book)

Answers:

Review explanation in syllabus (as I'll begin to do next week)

Look at examples on Model Assignments page

forthcoming email

LITR 5535 Homepage > Craig White's Homepage

Class will receive a brief group-letter updating my wife's condition at her 1-year checkup.

Shared emails with classes last year, so will share with you

But no expectations of reactions, etc.

today's schedule

selection reader / discussion leader: Bonnie Napoli

poetry: Poe, "Anabelle Lee," N 2671

poetry reader / discussion leader: Corey Porter

Bonnie unable to attend--one of her students died over weekend, so she's involved with counseling, etc.

> general background on Poe

questions for Poe & Faulkner (discussion after break)

Corey's presentation on "Annabel Lee"

Last class's preview of Poe & Faulkner

Poe as "catalog of Romanticism"--His poems and stories are thick as fudge with standard Romantic attitudes and effects

passionate quests (learning, revenge, love, etc.) (quest as romance narrative)

loss (esp. "death of beautiful women")

supernatural (Romanticism doesn't have to go there, but if it's always escaping the here and now and testing boundaries, it's bound to go there sometimes)

the gothic--Poe = what most American readers think of when they think of "the gothic" and related genres

Poe & Faulkner as examples of European / Southern gothic

(contrast wilderness / Puritan gothic of Cooper, Irving, Hawthorne)

Southern USA remains strangely European in some ways: feudalism, stark divisions of rich and poor, "heritage" of past, social positions

general background on Poe

most popular writer in our course, maybe the only writer who many people would read without courses like ours

critical-scholarly status about Poe: always a little mixed.

Compare to Faulkner--probably America's greatest writer ever, at least in terms of critical respect. "America's Shakespeare" (But we don't study Faulkner as much in this course b/c he's only tangentially related to Romanticism through the gothic.)

Critical credit:

great "musical" quality in verse and prose

very high achievement in several short stories & poems

creator of several genres (detective story, early practitioner of science fiction)

admired and influential in Europe (French symbolist poets)

Comparable to Cooper in popularity and overseas influence

Critical doubt:

Poe concentrates on sensations and effects, therefore questionable depth

maybe just a lot of noise and horror

Poe as escapist fantasy, thrills and chills > appeal to dumb or ignorant aspects of popular mind

Questions for Poe:

What previous experiences studying / teaching Poe? Can people's reactions be connected to Romanticism?