ENG4936

ENG 4936

Honors Seminar

American Modernism

Course meetings Weds. per 9-11, TUR 2341

Instructor Susan Hegeman

Telephone 392-6650, x 289

e-mail shegeman@english.ufl.edu

Office Hours Wednesdays 2-4 pm and by appointment; TUR 4119

Course Description

This course will address modernism, the experimental literature from around the turn of the last century, in the context of the history and culture of the United States. Of particular interest to us will be the problem of literary historical periodization: how do we describe the literary period known as modernism, and how does that term apply to the particular literary production of the U.S.? A typical starting place for thinking about modernism is to acknowledge that it has something to do with the experience of being "modern." But here we begin to see a host of difficulties. For example, the U.S. was widely thought to be one of the most "modern" countries in the world in this period. American industry was famous for its productivity, and more Americans per capita owned radios than anywhere else in the world. But a significant percentage of the population of the U.S. also lived without electricity. What does this picture of America have to do with modern literature? Or, to take another example, literary modernism is often associated with the terrible experience of World War I, but America entered that conflict, fought overseas, when the war was nearly concluded, and far more Americans died in the 1918 flu epidemic than died in the war. How does a specifically American literary history force us to rethink the narratives of modernism that often take the British or French experience as the norm? How important was it that Gertrude Stein and Ernest Hemingway lived in Paris, when William Faulkner, another great modernist writer, lived in Mississippi? What might literary modernism have to do with the Harlem Renaissance in the 1920s, or with the emergence of Hollywood? In other words, our focus on American modernism will attempt to connect aesthetic practices to history, to try to account for why certain kinds of experiments in the arts happened when and where they did.

As for the required readings: Modernist literature is notorious for being "difficult," and some of the assigned works for this class will doubtless seem so. Our readings will include canonical poets and novelists and less well-known figures. We will read historical sources and literary criticism, and perhaps see a film or two as well.

Required texts

The following books have been ordered for this class at Goering's Textbook Store, "Books and Bagels" (1717 NW 1st Avenue; Tel. 352-377-3703). If you purchase your books elsewhere, please try to get the editions ordered for the class.

Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio Norton Critical Edition ISBN: 0393967956

Ernest Hemingway, In Our Time Scribner ISBN: 0684822768

Jean Toomer, Cane Norton Critical Edition ISBN: 0393956008

Hart Crane, The Bridge: A Poem Liveright ISBN: 0871402254

Mary Beth Hamilton, When I'm Bad, I'm Better: Mae West, Sex, and American Entertainment U California P ISBN 0520210948

by John Dos Passos, The Big Money Mariner Books ISBN: 0618056831

William Carlos Williams, Paterson New Directions ISBN: 081121298X

In addition to the books listed, you will be required to view two films: The Crowd and Modern Times. Screenings of these films will be held at a time and place to be announced. You are not required to attend the screenings, but you are required to view the films. If you cannot attend the screenings, the films are on 3-hour loan at Marsden Science Library.

Course Requirements

1. You are required to attend class and participate in discussions. You are also required to view the films and keep up with the readings. The quality of course discussions depends in a large part on your presence, energy, and preparedness. 25% of your final grade will be based upon attendance and participation.

2. You will write three papers of 5 to 7 pages each on topics generated from the assigned course materials. It is strongly recommended that you clear topics with the instructor before you begin writing. I am happy to review paper outlines and thesis statements before the due date. Each paper will count for 25% of your final grade.

Please make a note of the paper due dates. They are September 28, November 2, and December 7.

Academic Honesty Policy

You are required to review the university's Academic Honor Code and the Academic Honesty Guidelines, especially the discussion of plagiarism, found in the Undergraduate Catalogue. Plagiarism or any other form of academic dishonesty will result in an automatic failure of the assignment and the filing of a report in your academic file.

Types of plagiarism include (but are not limited to):

presenting as your own work papers written in whole or in part by someone else (for example a paper written by a friend; a purchased or retyped paper; or one taken from a file)

Ÿdirectly quoting, paraphrasing, or summarizing from external sources without proper citations

Please take a moment to consider the second category of plagiarism. Many students fail to fully understand that even such possibly innocent mistakes as paraphrasing the work of others or failure to give proper citation is a serious form of plagiarism. Because such mistakes can potentially get you in a lot of trouble, you should talk to me if you have any questions about plagiarism, academic honesty, or proper research and citation methods.

UF Academic Honesty Guidelines

Critically Analyzing Information Sources

course Schedule

August 24 Introduction and discussion: what is "modern," what is modernism?

Charles Baudelaire, "The Painter of Modern Life" (1863)

August 31 discuss Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio

Planet Sherwood

September 7 discuss Hemingway, In Our Time

September 14 discuss Toomer, Cane

Jean Toomer's poetry

September 21 continue discussion of Toomer, Cane

September 28 discuss Crane, The Bridge: A Poem