Schedule of Readings:
This is a preliminary schedule and it will change as the semester progresses and I learn more about your interests and needs. Each week’s assignments will be updated by the Friday before.
T Aug. 28:
Our vision for the semester
Th Aug. 30:
Syllabus and Course Policies
Sandra Cisneros, BarbieQ
T Sept. 4:
What to Read:
Sandra Cisneros, House on Mango Street, My Name
What to Do:
Read this article about the The Map Twins project
Th Sept. 6:
What to Read:
George Saunders, Victory Lap, Sticks, Puppy
This introduction to Narrators and Narrative Situation
Questions to Consider:
What kind of narrator(s) are employed in each story? Why do you think Saunders chose these narrators?
After having read these three stories, what can you say so far about the ethical worldview of George Saunders?
T Sept. 11
What to Read:
George Saunders, Victory Lab (reread), Escape from Spiderhead, Exhortation
This interview with George Saunders
What to Do:
Watch George Saunders’s 2013 Syracuse University Commencement Address
Optional: Email Prof. Harrison with your thoughts about its relevance to our readings
If you would not have passed the quiz in the last class, review this introduction to Narrators and Narrative Situation
Th Sept. 13
(Celebrate Spirit—class meets from 10:30 to 11:20)
What to Read:
George Saunders, Al Roosten, The Semplica Girl Diaries
What to Write:
A 300-word response to one of the below questions. Use specific pieces of textual evidence in your response.
Option 1. Throughout his fiction, one of George Saunders’s goals is to convey how people think—the internal monologues, imaginings, self-rationalizations, denials, and fantasies that go on in our mind as we move through the world. “Al Roosten” is a significant case study for several (and probably more) reasons:
>The story begins by highlighting the disconnect between what is happening in Roosten’s mind and what he projects externally in an intensely public performance (and even that outward appearance is filtered through his mind; that is, he only has limited knowledge of how he appears to other people.
>We gain some access to the complex motivations and experiences that prompt a seemingly senseless act, at the same time those motivations are filtered through Roosten’s own limited consciousness about his own self.
>We see Al Roosten struggling with and in some senses creating his own sense of who he is.
Analyze Saunders’s attempt to convey thought in this short story. Feel free to take on a particular aspect of this complex issue, e.g. analyze a particular formal strategy Saunders uses or a particular aspect of Roosten’s thought processes.
Option 2. For which character or characters does “The Semplica-Girl Diaries” invite readerly sympathy/empathy? How, and to what effect? Why is this significant? Consider genre as part of your response (i.e. Saunders’s use of the diary form).
T Sept. 18
Short Fiction TBA
Th Sept. 20
Virgin Suicides
T Sept. 25
Virgin Suicides
Th Sept. 27
Virgin Suicides
T Oct. 2
Complete Draft due
Virgin Suicides–Approximately 2/3 of Chapter 3 through “It was the decay that brought Muffie Perry back.” (Page 104 in the “big book).
Th Oct. 4
Revised Draft due
Virgin Suicides–Read at your own pace
In Class: Mustang Diaries--Class runs until 1:30
T Oct. 9
Fall break; Deadline to register to vote
Finish reading The Virgin Suicides
Th Oct. 11
Happy National Coming Out Day
CLASS CANCELLED
Prof. Harrison at North American Victorian Studies Conference:
Meet with your small group to craft film/fiction comparison
T Oct. 16
The Virgin Suicides
Film/fiction comparison due
Th Oct. 18
The Virgin Suicides
T Oct. 23
Trauma, Memory, and Form: Queen of the North
Th Oct. 25
Characterization: Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
T Oct. 30
Characterization: Drinking Coffee Elsewhere
Th Nov. 1
What to Read:
There, There: A Novel, by Tommy Orange, through page 43
Find out about Tommy Orange. Who is he? How did he start writing?
In class:
Watch “Proud to Be” (Advertisement) National Congress of American Indians
Saturday, November 3rd:
DEADLINE TO REQUEST AN ABSENTEE BALLOT (MI)
[First-time voters can only request absentee ballots in person. A voter may request and cast an absentee ballot at a municipal clerk’s office up until the day before Election Day. Since it occurs in person, first-time voters may take advantage of this, even if they did not register in person.]
T Nov. 6: ELECTION DAY
Polls open from 7 A.M. to 8 P.M.
Look up when and where you should vote
What to Read:
There, There: A Novel, by Tommy Orange, through the end of Part II, page 155
Th Nov. 8
What to Read:
There, There: A Novel, by Tommy Orange, through the end of Part II, part III, page 155-225
Reviews of There, There:
Yes, Tommy Orange’s New Novel Really Is That Good
Tommy Orange’s ‘There There’ Is a New Kind of American Epic
There There by Tommy Orange review – moving and powerful
T Nov. 13
What to Read:
There, There: A Novel, by Tommy Orange, through the end of the novel
Th Nov. 15
“Fetishes” as story and Case Study
T Nov. 20
What to Write
Book Review Due
In Class
Discussion of Jane Tompkins, Speak, Memory
Th Nov. 22—GIVE THANKS
T Nov. 27
Gravel, Alice Munro
Th Nov. 29
The Boundary, Jhumpa Lahiri
Pee on Water, Rachel Glaser
T Dec.4
TBA
Th Dec. 6
In Class:
Debriefing
Final Exam Period: December 11th, 11:00 to 12:50
Mary-Catherine Harrison, Ph.D. 