ENGLISH 250H1S (WINTER 2021)

INTRODUCTION TO AMERICAN LITERATURE

DESCRIPTION: Examining a variety of genres, including fiction, poetry, life-writing, and

slave narratives, we will look at how a number of American writers’ works reflect national and
individual concerns with freedom and identity. What does “America” mean at different points in
time and from particular individual and communal perspectives, and how have those meanings
been contested from within and without? How do individual and national identities come to be
expressed in various literary periods and movements, particularly in relation to race, gender, and
sexuality?

LECTURE: Monday, 6:10 – 8:00 pm (synchronous)

(UofT time: classes always start at 10 minutes after, regardless of whether they are online or in
person)

Scott Rayter, Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, Sexual Diversity Studies/English

Office Hours: After class or by appointment.
Email: scott.rayter@utoronto.ca

TUTORIAL: Will begin the second week of class (Jan 20). There are 10 tutorial sections of 20
students each and you must enroll in one of them on Acorn if you haven't done so already when
you enrolled in the course. 5 of them run Wednesday 6:10 –7:00pm, and 5 on Wednesday 7:10 –
8:00pm. You will be able to access your tutorial through Quercus in the coming days. If you
don’t know which tutorial you are in by the time of the first tutorial on Jan 20, please get in touch
with Daniel Direkoglu.

TEACHING ASSISTANTS / TUTORIAL LEADERS

**Daniel Direkoglu: dan.direkoglu@mail.utoronto.ca

Administrative TA

Daniel Bergman d.bergman@mail.utoronto.ca

Anna Kozak anna.kozak@mail.utoronto.ca
Chelsea Latremouille chelsea.latremouille@mail.utoronto.ca
Robert Powell robert.powell@mail.utoronto.ca
Stephanie Redekop stephanie.redekop@mail.utoronto.ca

EMAIL: Make sure you check the syllabus, assignment, or specific tutorial to see if your
question is answered there. We will also post (anonymously) to the discussion board questions/
FAQ relevant to all students.
- With 200 students, and another 150 in the two other courses I’m teaching this term, I simply
will not be able to answer all emails in a timely manner, so please contact Daneil Direkoglu for
administrative questions, and your own TA for specific questions about assignments and matters
related to your tutorials.

REQUIRED TEXT: The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 9th ed. 2017. 2
Vols $90.95 + tax
-Text is now available at UofT Bookstore. Delivery and contactless pickup options available.
https://uoftbookstore.com/textbook_express.asp?mode=2&step=2
-Earlier editions may also contain the texts we are reading, though obviously the pagination will
be different.

ASSIGNMENTS

1. TAKE-HOME TEST. Worth 20% (Post Mon Feb 1; Due Thurs Feb 11, 9pm). There will be
passages from some of the readings covered from Jan 11 to Feb. 8, and students will choose 2
and explain their significance, particularly in relation to the text as a whole. No secondary is
required (though any reference or citation to other work MUST be properly acknowledged and
cited correctly). Try to think of this exercise as what you would normally do in a one-hour in-
class test, though you obviously have 10 days and are free to look at the readings, along with
your notes and the slides. Your response for each passage/text (which you will upload to
Quercus) should be approximately one page, double-spaced, 12-pont font, with normal margins
(for a total of two pages or 500 words). And we will do some practice examples in lecture and
tutorial, and the assignment itself will provide more detail.

2. ESSAY Worth 30% (Post and discuss in tutorial on Wed, Feb 24; Due Fri, Mar 26, 9pm
upload to Quercus). (5–6 pages; approx. 1200-1500 words, MLA format). I will provide a list of
topics.

3. TAKE-HOME FINAL EXAM Worth 30% (Posted Mon, Mar 22; Due Wed, Apr 14; due
9pm). This exam will cover the material after the mid-term. We will discuss the format at a later
date, but likely students will have a choice between discussing passages, as they did on the mid-
term, or answering an essay question, similar to the second assignment, though shorter.
Approximately 4 pages double-spaced (~1000 words) and uploaded to Quercus.

4. PARTICIPATION. Worth 20%

Department of English Statement on Attendance
English courses at the University of Toronto offer a distinctive sense of community, as they aim
to foster opportunities both to listen and to be heard. While the requirements of individual
instructors and the constraints and opportunities of various courses may differ significantly, the
Department of English expects regular, prompt attendance in all courses and active participation
when appropriate. Lectures and in-class discussions provide the foundation and context for all
written assignments and other forms of evaluation. By promoting both oral and written
proficiency, the English program offers students a set of broadly effective professional and social
skills. Regular attendance and informed participation demonstrate a commitment to fellow
students and to the ideal of a shared educational experience.
…..............
It is obviously a different environment we now find ourselves in, and participation is in some
ways easier, in others perhaps more challenging for some. It goes without saying that one cannot
earn a participation mark without attending classes, particularly the tutorials. I am hoping as
many people as possible are willing to have cameras on so we can all interact in a more
meaningful way, and so that we get to know students, and that you all get to better know some of
your classmates. We realize that there are technological limitations for some folks (e.g.,
bandwidth), privacy issues, shared living/working spaces, comfort with the technology etc.
Participation is about attending lectures and tutorials having read the material and being ready to
discuss it; speaking in class, but that can also take the form of using the chat function to direct
comments and questions to me or the teaching assistants during tutorials; posting responses to the
discussion board; and doing group facilitations in your tutorials with the other students. Your
tutorial leaders will talk more about these things in your first session on Wednesday, January 20.
In sum, one doesn’t have to speak all the time, or dominate class/group discussions, to earn a
perfect participation grade, and my experience is that for many students, the participation grade
ends up pushing their grade to the next level, especially when it’s worth 20%.
Recording Lectures:

Given that we have 200 students in this class, some folks are in different time zones, some have
other responsibilities at certain times, and or may miss a class for any number of reasons, I will
record the lectures and post them to Quercus. Tutorials will NOT be recorded, nor anything in
breakout groups or the chat. The recording will therefore only be available to those registered in
the course, and it goes without saying, but I'll say it anyway, these are for the students registered
in this class as one more tool to help make this current compromised teaching environment as
pedagogically effective and accommodating as possible. Recordings are therefore not to be used
or posted elsewhere. I take student privacy very seriously and I don’t want anyone feeling unable
to fully participate because the lectures are being recorded. And let me make it clear that the
expectation is not to attend class and then also go and listen to the lecture again. I also will not
keep each lecture up for too long, in part because they take up a lot of space on Quercus which
limits the amount of content you can put up for each course.

ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT

Should there be any questions about the legitimacy of your essay, you will be expected to
produce all notes and drafts and discuss your essay in a meeting with me and another person.
Penalties can range from a failing grade to suspension from the university for up to one year with
an accompanying note on your transcript.

From the Arts & Science site on Academic Misconduct:

As a student, you alone are responsible for ensuring the integrity of your work and for
understanding what constitutes an academic offence. Be sure to inform yourself on what is
covered under the Code, and if you are not sure, seek guidance from your professor or TA.

The Code* divides academic offences into nine categories:

1. Altering, forging or falsifying documents other than academic records (B.I.1.a)
2. Possession or use of unauthorized aids (B.I.1.b)
3. Impersonation (B.I.1.c)
4. Plagiarism (B.I.1.d)
5. Submission of work for which credit has previously been obtained (B.I.1.e)
6. Submission of work containing purported statement(s) of fact or reference(s) to concocted
sources (B.I.1.f)
7. Altering, forging or falsifying an academic record (B.I.3.a)
8. Any other misconduct to obtain academic credit or advantage (B.I.3.b)
 9. Assisting another student in committing an offence (B.II.1.a)

https://www.artsci.utoronto.ca/current/academic-advising-and-support/student-academic-
integrity/academic-misconduct

On Academic Integrity at UofT:

https://www.academicintegrity.utoronto.ca/perils-and-pitfalls/

**Code Of Behaviour On Academic Matters

https://governingcouncil.utoronto.ca/secretariat/policies/code-behaviour-academic-matters-july-
1-2019

How not to Plagiarize:

https://advice.writing.utoronto.ca/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarize/

........................................

SCHEDULE

WEEK 1

January 11: A Walk in Time: Where Have We Been, Where Are We Going?
-Introduction
-Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken” (1915) (in Norton, and posted on Quercus)
-Frank O’Hara, “A Step Away from Them” (1956) (Quercus)

WEEK 2

January 18: Revolution, Independence, and the American Dream

-Nathaniel Hawthorne, “My Kinsman, Major Molineux” (1832)
-Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle” (1819)

WEEK 3

January 25: Inventing the Self

-Benjamin Franklin, from The Autobiography, Part One (1771–1790)

WEEK 4

February 1: Nation: Race, Gender, Sexuality

-Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birth-Mark” (1843)
-Harriet Jacobs, from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (1861)
(Chs I, VII, X, XIV, XXI, XLI—exactly what is included in the Norton)

WEEK 5

February 8: The Self Imperiled

-Herman Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener” (1853, 1856)

-Emily Dickinson, Poems (most written in the 1860s, but not published till decades later)
-From Vol I (Note: there are different numbering systems for the poems; indeed previous editions
of the Norton followed the Johnson variorum edition of 1955, but have now adopted the order in
the Franklin variorum edition of 1998). Dickinson did not title her poems, so here I’ve used first
lines to avoid confusion.
39: [I never lost as much but twice—]
112: [Success is counted sweetest]
202: [“Faith” is a fine invention]
260: [I’m Nobody! Who are you?]
269: [Wild Nights – Wild Nights!]
340: [I felt a Funeral, in my Brain]
372: [After great pain, a formal feeling comes—]
373: [This World is not conclusion]
448: [I died for Beauty — but was scarce]
479: [Because I could not stop for Death—]
519: [This is my letter to the World]
591: [I heard a Fly buzz—when I died—]
598: [The Brain—is wider than the Sky—]
760: [Pain—has an Element of Blank—]
764: [My Life had stood—a Loaded Gun—]
1263: [Tell all the Truth but tell it slant—]
1773: [My life closed twice before it’s close]

FEBRUARY 15: READING WEEK: NO CLASS

WEEK 6

February 22: The Self Triumphant

-Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself” (1855, 1881)
-Sharon Olds, “The Language of the Brag” (1980) (Quercus)

WEEK 7

March 1: Perceiving and Constructing Reality: Realism & Naturalism I

-Ambrose Bierce, “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (1890)
-Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wall-paper” (1892)

WEEK 8

March 8: “The New Woman”

-Henry James, “Daisy Miller: A Study” (1878)
-Sui Sin Far, “Mrs. Spring Fragrance” (1912)
 WEEK 9

March 15: Modernist Fiction: Memory, History, Gender

-William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily” (1930)
-Ernest Hemingway, “Hills Like White Elephants” (1927)
-F. Scott Fitzgerald, “Babylon Revisited” (1931)

WEEK 10

March 22: TBA

-Students can submit choices from the Norton and we’ll come up with a shortlist to vote on.

WEEK 11

March 29: Postmodern Fiction I: Memory, History, Race

-Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (2013)
-Philip Roth, “Defender of the Faith” (1959)
-Thomas King, “A Coyote Columbus Story” (1993) (Quercus)

WEEK 12

April 5: Postmodernism Fiction II: A New Realism?

-Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” (1983)
-Carmen Maria Machado, “Inventory” (2013) (Quercus)
-Lorrie Moore, “Face Time” (2020) (Quercus)