Professor Marcus Embry
L-30 Michener, 351-2111
membry@unco.edu
http://asweb.unco.edu//latina

Office Hours:
Tuesday 1:00-3:00, Wednesday 1:00-3:00

And by appointment

Course Description:This course is designed to focus on small towns in the Americas. Small towns have, of course, always been at the center of American discourse, from the Puritans’ City on a hill to the lost sites of innocence during the industrialization of the United States. In this course, we will examine the development of small town literature in the US, and we will explore the role of small town literature as the following:

Students will be expected to be fluent in the concepts outlined above, and they will be expected to respond to questions formulated on the concepts above.

We will begin by focusing on the late nineteenth and early twentieth century and role small town literature played in the construction of various literary genres and the deployment of gendered distinctions within those genres. We will then proceed to examine contemporary small town literature by focusing on the writers who will participate in the 2002 Writing Conference. Next, we will examine small town literature in Modernism. And finally, we will read contemporary instances, deployments, of small town literature.

Required Texts (Available at Barnes and Noble in the University Center, The Book Stop, 931 16th Street, and various internet providers such as Amazon.com and half.com):
Anderson, Sherwood. Winesburg, Ohio. Signet; ISBN: 0451525698
Faulkner, William. The Town.
Garland, Hamlin. Main-Travelled Roads. U of Nebraska Press; ISBN: 0803270585
Haruf, Kent. Plainsong. Vintage; ISBN: 0375705856
Hinojosa, Rolando. Dear Rafe. Arte Publico Press; ISBN: 0934770387
Jewett, Sarah Orne. A Country Doctor. Bantam Classic and Loveswept; ISBN: 0553214985
Morris, Willie. North Toward Home. Vintage; ISBN: 0375724605
Russo, Richard. Straight Man. Vintage; ISBN: 0375701907
Shelton, Connie. Small Towns Can Be Murder. Intrigue Press; ISBN: 1890768162
Wilder, Thornton. Our Town: A Play in Three Acts. Harperperennial; ISBN: 0060929847

We will also read poems written by the authors who will be our speakers at the 2002 Writing Conference: Linda Hogan, Pam Huston, James Galvin, and Tipton. Rather than assign specific books by these authors, I will place various poems on Reserve in Michener Library.

Weekly Syllabus (note: reading assignments are to be completed by the day of class for which the specific text is assigned):

Week 1:
1/15 Introduction

Week 2:
1/22 Garland

Week 3:
1/29 Jewett

Week 4:
2/5 Anderson

Week 5:
2/12 Hogan and Huston

Week 6:
2/19 Haruf. Plainsong.
Annotated Bibliography due at the beginning of class.

Week 7:
2/26 Galvin and Tipton

Week 8:
3/5 Rather than meet in class, we will attend James Galvin’s reading at 7:30 pm in the Panorama Lounge in the University Center. Galvin’s presentation will be the second evening of presentations that are part of the 2002 Writing Conference, Mapping Identity: A Sense of Place. You are encouraged to attend as much of this conference as possible.

Week 9:
3/12 Wilder
Mid-term exam

3/19 Spring Break

Week 10:
3/26 Faulkner
Paper Proposals due at the beginning of class. Assignment grade will drop ten percent for each day Proposal is late.

Week 11:
4/2 Morris

Week 13:
4/16 Hinojosa

Week 14:
4/23 Russo

Week 15:
4/30 Term Papers due at the beginning of class.

Course Requirements
10% Annotated Bibliography
20% Twenty minute in-class presentation;
20% Mid-term exam
10% Final exam
10% Paper Proposal
20% Research paper or creative project (of equivalent length and quality);
10% Class attendance and participation (to be determined by comments in class as indicator of whether assigned readings have, in fact, been read by individuals).

Annotated Bibliography:

This assignment is not as hard as it sounds. Using MLA format, list at least ten references related to small towns in literature in your particular field and/or area of interest (creative writing, pedagogy, theory, American lit., English lit., gender issues, sexuality issues, etc.). Each bibliographical entry is followed by a three to four-sentence synopsis of the major points and/or argument of the article of book. Internet web sites, encyclopedias and dictionaries do not count toward the fifteen entry requirement. At least seven of entries must be dated after 1990.

Paper Proposal:

You must write a proposal identifying (either your creative project or) the text you choose and provide a brief bibliography (five entries) of relevant criticism, and turn it in for me to sign. This proposal will be turned in as part of the research paper. If you omit the proposal when you submit the paper, then you will receive a grade of Incomplete for the class.

Research Paper:

Fifteen page research paper examining a text of your choice (or an equivalent creative project) with my signed approval. Of course, the topic of your paper will be to examine your chosen text in context of small town literature as we develop it in this class. You must cite at least ten references in the form of articles or books with a maximum of two internet web sites counting toward the ten reference requirement; class texts, encyclopedias, and dictionaries do not count toward the ten reference requirement, although if you use information from these sources, they must be cited correctly. Your paper must be written in MLA format. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade.

Important Note:

I will deduct one point for each circled mistake, and these points will be deducted from the score your paper merits for content. UNC has extensive resources to assist students with writing. Use them. Also note that I specify that you submit papers in MLA format. If you do not use MLA format, then I will deduct one letter grade from your overall score.

Late Assignment Policy:

I will deduct ten percent of the assignment’s overall grade for every day that the assignment is late. If you miss an assignment, by all means turn in something within five days – twenty or thirty percent is certainly better than zero.

Plagiarism:

Plagiarism occurs when an individual represents someone else’s work as his or her own. If you download a paper off of an internet cite and turn it in as your own, that is plagiarism. If you copy sentences or passages written by someone else and do not attribute the source, that is plagiarism. If I suspect plagiarism, I will investigate by whatever means available, including various internet sites designed to specifically find passages copied from websites. Be advised that these internet search engines are extremely efficient. Plagiarized assignments will receive a grade of zero and will be reported to the proper authorities. Do not plagiarize.

Disability Access Statement

Presence and Participation: To receive the most benefit from this course, you should attend each scheduled class meeting. Since almost all of you are legal adults and most of you are going into debt to attend college, I do not enforce an attendance policy. If you skip class, you are wasting your own time and money. Be advised that I do design tests and writing assignments in relation to class discussion. Over the course of my years here, the students who attend class earn higher grades. As a general rule, I use the following scale to grade your attendance and participation:

100% – consistent contribution to class discussion
90% – frequent contribution to class discussion
80% – occasional contribution to class discussion
70% – pleasant demeanor, attentive presence
60% – napping, drooling, doodling, mild surliness
50% – reading newspaper, chatting with neighbors, growling
40% – sickness in class, bleeding on floor (bonus points for bringing and using plastic bags)
30% – dragging intestines, bones protruding through skin (bonus points for determination)
20% – death in class (internment is generally not covered in your student fees)
10% – decomposition in chair (90 bonus points for diligence, however)
0% – face, name, existence utter mystery to Professor

As a General Education course, this course intends to help you: understand aesthetic and intellectual achievements in art, music, literature, history, or philosophy; understand the intellectual, cultural, and historical framework of these disciplines; know various contributions these disciplines make to the enhancement of our lives; and demonstrate abilities in analytic thought, the use of language, aesthetic appreciation, or research techniques.

Que le vaya bien.