Assignments

Critical Essay & Question Presentation (20%) -- For your presentation, you will read the literary text assigned for a particular week, articulate one or two main points from the week’s scholarly text (as assigned), generate a critical question or two connecting the two, and get class discussion started for the day. A short single-spaced half-sheet or 1-page handout copied for the whole class is encouraged. Presentations are no more than 10 minutes, may include media, and each presenter must have a substantive speaking part.

In-Class Quizzes (10%) -- There will be five or more in-class quizzes at various times during the semester. These quizzes serve as a review of the week's main ideas, terms, texts, and readings. These quizzes will include identifications, fill-in-the-blanks, definitions, and short answers.

Exams (40%) -- You will have three take-home exam opportunities, which will consist of short answer and/or essay questions. Exams will be due (tentatively) at the end of Week 5, Week 10, and Week 15. You must complete two of the three exams. Exams will be cumulative and based on the class readings, literature, other media, and in-class and Blackboard discussions.

Queer(ing) American Literature Critical Review (10%) -- A short, 500-600 word, single-spaced critical review of a text not covered by the course that you believe fits the critical, theoretical, and intellectual stakes of this class. In other words, what text might you include in a class like ours? The critical review will be turned in and published on the class blog.

Information Sheets

The following are handouts, informational sheets, and readings that will be assigned or used over the course of the quarter. Each student will recieve a copy of each as a handout in class during the appropriate week. If you miss a sheet, feel free to print out a new copy.

Ed's Top Ten List of "Ways to Survive University"

Ed's Top Ten Rules of Writing

Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing

MLA Citation and Bibliographic Format

What is Close Reading?

Readings

Course texts are available via the Ohio University online bookstore (or through any reputable bookseller). Shorter readings are available via the course Blackboard. The required texts for this class are:

Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. Larsen, Nella. Passing. Hemingway, Ernest. In Our Time. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. Ginsberg, Allen. Howl. Baldwin, James. Giovanni's Room. Williams, Tennessee. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Morrison, Toni. Sula. Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home.

Consult the course syllabus for the week's required reading. The following is a full bibliographical list of the class readings:

Anderson, Sherwood. "Hands." Winesburg, Ohio. New York: Dover, 1995. 5-9. Baldwin, James. Giovanni's Room. New York: Vintage, 2013. Bechdel, Alison. Fun Home. Boston: Mariner Books, 2006. Ferguson, Robert A. "Race." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 191-196. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gastby. New York: Scribner, 1993. Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. "If I Were a Man." Pearson Education. 11 Jun. 2012. http://wps.prenhall.com/wps/media/objects/107/110026/ch18_a2_d2.pdf. Ginsberg, Allen. Howl and Other Poems. San Francisco: City Lights Books, 1959. Halberstam, Judith. "Gender." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 116-120. Kingston, Maxine Hong. The Woman Warrior. New York: Vintage, 1989. Larsen, Nella. Passing New York: Penguin Classics, 2003. Morrison, Toni. Sula. New York: Vintage, 1973. Salinger, J.D. The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Back Bay Books, 2001. Sedgwick, Eve Kosofsky. "Queer and Now." Tendencies. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1993. 1-22. Somerville, Siobhan B. "Queer." Keywords for American Cultural Studies. Eds. Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler. New York: NYU Press, 2007. 187-191. Steinbeck, John. Of Mice and Men. New York: Penguin, 2002. Williams, Tennessee. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. New York: Dramatist Play Service, 1954.

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