Fall 2005 Spring 2006

MWR

Violent Readings of America

Mr. Carlos Martinez

Office: Rabb 248 # 6-2151 Office Hours:

Mailbox: Behind English Office - Rabb 144 Mailstop 023

Email: carlosm@brandeis.edu

Course Objectives: This course will examine various literary texts against historical and literary theoretical scholarship on violence. We will pay special attention to the styles authors have developed to depict and provide thought about violence in 19^th and 20^th century American literature. We will be working on understanding the literary texts while producing a new understanding of violence in America. For your part, you will increase your ability to read complicated texts closely and explain their workings succinctly. You will become fairly adept at wielding historical and literary theoretical lenses. You will acquire an understanding of several major themes in American literature and begin to outline important historical and literary developments in 20th century America. Perhaps most importantly, the course is designed to instigate intuition, insight, ethical self-questioning, ironic self-awareness, and a dialectical relationship to dark humor.

Required Texts:

Cooper, James Fennimore, The Last of the Mohicans

Norris, Frank, McTeague

Himes, Chester B., If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

Faulkner, William. Light in August

Morrison, Toni, Beloved

McCarthy, Cormac, Blood Meridian

(you will need to photocopy theoretical supplements from the WebCT)

Written Assignments:

During the semester you will be required to write a series of short and long papers: four to six short papers (only four are required but you may do more) of about 500 words, and two or three longer papers, one four to six pages and one six to eight. Please revise all papers extensively before the final due date; incorrect grammar will lower your score on all short and long papers. All assignments completed outside of class must be typed, double-spaced, in 12 pt. font, and have margins (top, bottom, right, and left) set at one inch. Improper formatting will also lower your final score. Please consider using the Writing Center, which is located on the mezzanine level of the Goldfarb library.

Late Policy:

In the interest of fairness, I lower grades a fraction of a full grade point (e.g. from a B+ to a B) per class day assignments are late. If you know that you will not be able to turn in your work on time, get in touch with me and let me know as far in advance as possible. If you cannot make the class on which a paper is due, then try turning it in ahead of time or sending it along with someone you know.

Class Participation:

Class participation is a major component of your grade. You will receive a low participation grade if you do not speak in class, and it will statistically keep you from getting an A in the course. Please come to class having done the reading and prepared to discuss it. Please do not miss class because you are scrambling to finish a written assignment that is due. If class is in a couple of hours and you are at a couple of paragraphs, give it a rest, do the reading, and make it to class. In other words, please come to class even if you do not have an assignment to turn in; it snowballs when you don’t.

Attendance:

Please try to make an effort to get here bright-eyed and on time. I will allow up to three absences where I will not ask and will not want to hear about your reasons for missing. After these your grade will begin to shift in a downward direction unless you have unrelenting circumstances you have cleared with me first. For those of you who are present, I do reward perfect attendance at the end of the semester.

Conferences:

You must meet with me outside of class several times this semester: both before and after mid-semester. I distribute sign up times in class and post them on the WebCT. It will be your responsibility to come and see me. I will take off a full letter grade from the paper we would have been discussing if you miss a conference. Aside from conferences, please feel free to come and see me throughout the semester as necessary.

Academic Honesty:

You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. The University policy on academic honesty is distributed annually as section 5 of the Rights and Responsibilities handbook. Instances of alleged dishonesty will be forwarded to the Office of Campus Life for possible referral to the Student Judicial System. Potential sanctions include failure in the course and suspension from the University. If you have any questions about my expectations, please ask. In this class, academic dishonesty would most likely mean using ideas from a book, a journal, or the Internet without adding a citation or footnote indicating the source of the ideas. Academic dishonesty is otherwise any deliberate attempt on your part to present someone else’s ideas as your own. On the other hand, using the ideas generated in your peer editing sessions and group discussion does NOT constitute academic dishonesty in this class.

Grading:

Class Participation – 12%

Short Papers – 28% (4x7% each)

Long Essays – 60%

If you are a student with a documented physical, psychological, or learning disability at Brandeis and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please see me.

Course Schedule:

Week 1:

M introduction, defining violence

W Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

Turner, “The Significance of the Frontier in American History” (WebCT)

R Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence (WebCT selections)

Week 2:

M Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

Slotkin, Regeneration Through Violence (WebCT selections)

W Cooper, The Last of the Mohicans

R Slotkin, The Fatal Environment (WebCT selections)

Norris, McTeague

Week 3:

M Norris, McTeague

short paper first due date

W Norris, McTeague

R Norris, McTeague

Bloom, The American Religion (selections WebCT)

Week 4:

M Norris, McTeague

Turner, The Frontier in American History (WebCT selections)

W Himes, If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

R Himes, If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

Fanon, “The So-Called Dependency Complex of Colonized Peoples” (pp. 83-108)

Week 5:

M Himes, If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

short paper second due date

W Himes, If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

Fanon, “The Fact of Blackness” (pp. 109-40)

R Himes, If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

Sartre, Orphée Noir (WebCT selections)

Week 6:

M Himes, If He Hollers, Let Him Go!

W Faulkner, Light In August

R Faulkner, Light In August

Fanon, “The Negro and Recognition”

“By Way of Conclusion” (pp. 210-32)

third paper due date

Week 7:

midterm recess

first essay due on Thursday after break

Week 8:

M Faulkner, Light In August

Sartre, Anti-Semite and Jew (WebCT selections)

W Cimino, The Deerhunter

R Cimino, The Deerhunter

Selected readings about media and the Vietnam War (WebCT)

Week 9:

M Cimino, The Deerhunter

Selected readings about media and the Vietnam War (WebCT)

W Cimino, The Deerhunter

Selected readings about media and the Vietnam War (WebCT)

R Cimino, The Deerhunter

Kowalewski, “Style, Violence, American Fiction” (WebCT pp. 248-55)

Week 10:

M Morrison, Beloved

fourth paper due date

W Morrison, Beloved

R Morrison, Beloved

Kowalewski, “Reading Violence, Making Sense” (WebCT 3-24)

Week 11:

M Morrison, Beloved

W Morrison, Beloved

R Morrison, Beloved

Week 12:

M McCarthy, Blood Meridian

Slotkin, “Pyramid of Skulls” (WebCT)

W McCarthy, Blood Meridian

R McCarthy, Blood Meridian

Week 13:

M McCarthy, Blood Meridian

Slotkin, The Fatal Environment (WebCT selections)

fifth paper due date

W McCarthy, Blood Meridian

R McCarthy, Blood Meridian

Week 14:

M McCarthy, Blood Meridian

Turner, The Frontier in American History (Selections WebCT)

W McCarthy, Blood Meridian

Giles, “Girl X and the Country of Last Things” (WebCT pps. 129-36)

R McCarthy, Blood Meridian

Slotkin, Regeneration Though Violence (Selections WebCT)

THIS SYLLABUS IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE