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ENG 3220—American Literature: 1865–1918

Three Semester Hours

ET 6/14

Prerequisites

University Requisite: ENG 2010 or 2020 or 2500 or two courses above ENG 2000

Course Overview

Authors, works, and genres of American literature from the end of the Civil War to the end of World War I.

Methods of Course Instruction

All material for this course is print-based. Instructor and students communicate and exchange materials through postal mail. 

E-Print Option

In this course, an option exists to use e-mail to submit your lesson assignments. Your assignment will be returned to you either as an e-mail attachment or as a hard copy sent through the postal mail, depending on the preferences of the instructor and/or program. 

Textbooks and Supplies

To save you money, most of the short stories and novels we will read are provided in an appendix at the back of the course manual. The remaining texts are below:

• Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. New ed. London: Puffin, 2009. [ISBN: 9780141327525]
• Crane, Stephen. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Charleston: 2014. [ISBN: 9781500105396]
• Davis, Rebecca Harding, and Cecelia Tichi. Life in the Iron Mills. Boston: Bedford Books, 1998. [ISBN: 9780312133603]
• James, Henry. The Turn of the Screw. New York: Dover Publications, 1991. [ISBN: 9780486266848]
• Twain, Mark, and R. Kent Rasmussen. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. New York: Penguin Putnam, INC, 2014. [ISBN: 9780143107323]
• Wharton, Edith. Ethan Frome. New York: Dover Publications, 1991. [ISBN: 9780486266909]
• Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass. The Original 1855 Edition. Mineola, N.Y.: Dover Publications, 2007. [ISBN: 9780486456768]

Number of Lessons

The course has ten lessons, including one midcourse examination and final examination. These lessons include:

• Lesson 1: Life in the Iron Mills
• Lesson 2: Huckleberry Finn
• Lesson 3: Part A—Editha
• Lesson 3: Part B—The Red Badge of Courage (Course Paper)
• Lesson 4: A White Heron, A New England Nun, and The Yellow Wallpaper
• Lesson 5: Midcourse Examination Information 
• Lesson 6: Selected Poems of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson 
• Lesson 7: An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and The Turn of the Screw
• Lesson 8: Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and Ethan Frome
• Lesson 9: Modernist Poetry
• Lesson 10: Final Examination Information

Types of Writing Assignments

The course grade will be based both on the grades for the individual lessons, the paper, and the results of the two examinations. In answers to all questions, whether on the exams or the lessons, be responsive to what is asked, aim for coherence and clearly provide fully developed answers, cite textual specifics as needed to support your ideas, and use correct spelling and grammar in order to communicate as clearly as possible. This is an upper-level English course so the instructor does not expect you to make the sorts of errors students make in freshman English courses. Although this may be obvious, in the past, students have lost points on exams (and lessons) because they did not take the time to read the questions carefully, and sometimes they have forgotten to answer all parts of the questions asked. If you can, type your answers for all the regular lessons and write neatly and legibly for the exams.

Grading Criteria

The final grade for this course will be weighted on the following:

• Individual lessons (8): 35 percent
• Course paper: 15 percent
• Midcourse Exam: 25 percent
• Final exam: 25 percent