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DISCUSSION SITE


Prof. Bruce Harvey

AML 5505 Modern Southern Fiction  
       

Summer A 2005, Mondays & Wednesdays 6:25-9:05, Biscayne Bay Campus

Biscayne Bay Office and Hours: AC1 346, (305) 919-5254, 5:00-6:15

Home phone: to be given in class
 

harveyb@fiu.edu      

A region of incredible rural beauty and rich folk traditions, and yet also a land bearing the legacy of slavery and vast class inequalities--the South has inspired some of the most morally profound and artistically compelling writing of the twentieth-century.  Our authors use their Southern experiences and the myths of the South and its history to offer complex insights about racial tensions, the relations between the sexes, family life, and the rituals of growing up.  We will explore their unique visions as well as what ties them together as Southerners.

I will give occasional lectures to fill in historical or cultural context, but the bulk of class time will be devoted to discussion.  Besides introducing you to a fascinating area of study, a major goal of this course is to improve your analytical abilities--specifically, your ability to see how texts work rhetorically, aesthetically, and culturally.  Another major goal is to develop your skill and pleasure in communicating ideas, both in class and on paper.

TEXTS AT THE BISCAYNE BAY  BOOKSTORE

--William Faulkner: Go Down, Moses (1/2 of it)

--Robert Penn Warren: All the King's Men

--Carson McCullers: Ballad of the Sad Cafe  (maybe)
--Flannery O'Connor:  Three By Flannery O'Connor (1/2 of it)

--William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury
--Ernest Gaines: A Lesson Before Dying
--Lewis Nordon: Wolf Whistle
 

HANDOUTS

--Pancake: "Trilobites"

--Wealty: "The Wide Net"

--Tyler: "The Geologist's Maid"

COMPLETE FILMS TO BE WATCHED

--All the King's Men

--Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

--Maitwan

--Ballad of the Sad Cafe

HISTORICAL/DOCUMENTARY FILMS

--Birth of a Nation
--WPA documentary films if available

REQUIREMENTS & GRADE PERCENTS 

25% =    In-class participation

25% =    Discussion board participation

50% =    Essay final version

ASSIGNMENTS & POLICIES

Class Participation:  The class is discussion oriented, although I'll give mini-lectures to highlight important issues.  Your participation will be worth 25% of your final grade. Missing class, especially as a graduate student, is considered very poor form: don't do it.  If you miss more than two days, you will not be able to pass the course.

Discussion Threads:  I will set up the discussion thread web-link (only the class can access it) the first week of class.  You may initiate topics/threads or respond to topics I or other students propose. You should submit and read postings routinely, but I don't want this to become just busy work for you.  Think of it as a chance to exchange ideas about our readings informally.  And, as with any dialogue or class discussion, sometimes you will have a lot to say (a nice meaty paragraph) and sometimes you won't have much to say at all.  Checking and submitting postings once or twice a week should suffice. Please try, once a topic has been initiated, to keep responses subordinate to it; otherwise, the mechanism gets unruly to navigate.  Also, try to keep current.  If you respond to a topic that is two weeks' old, it will be buried in the thread trail.  Heated debate is fine; but be polite and avoid vulgarities.  Respectable grammar, spelling, and sentence style are expected.

About midway through the semester, I'll give you feedback about whether your online discussion up to that point equals an "A," "B," and so forth.   And you can always ask me how you are doing.  If the online discussion creates awkwardness for you in any form, please talk to me and we'll work the problem out.  The online discussion equals 25% of your final grade.  Those who contribute hugely to class discussion are (somewhat) less obliged to contribute to the discussion threads; those who are quiet in class should contribute more vigorously to the online discussion.

Instructions for logging on to the discussion site:

1. Click on the "Discussion Site" link at the top of this syllabus (www.bruceharvey.pageout.net), and click on our class.

2. Click on "Student Registration" and follow the directions, using the class password at the end of the registration fields (not to be confused with your personal password that you will choose in a moment).  The class password is ___________.   If you do not enter a unique user ID and personal password, you will have to enter both items again along with the class password.

3. Write down your user ID and personal password here (or somewhere): ______________ ____________.

4. Click on "Discussion Area".

5. Click on "Enter Discussion Area".

6. Login.  Cookies must be enabled in your browser.

7. Leave a posting.

8. When you are at home doing this, you can create a favorite link to the actual discussion page.  All you will need to do, then, is to enter the your login user ID and password.

Paper:  I assign an heuristic grade to the draft; the final version equals 50% of the course grade.  As early as possible, tell me what you are interested in, so I can help guide you. The essay should be about fifteen pages long or longer.  It must incorporate a decent amount of secondary research: historical-cultural, biographical, and/or critical.  Longer essay guidelines and tips will be given down-the-road.
 

   June 1:          Email me a 1/2 page statement of your essay topic.
   June 10:        Email me a draft of your essay.
   June 25:        Email me a final version of your essay.

Miscellaneous:
 

There is no final exam.

A graduate-level seminar is not simply a more intense 4000-level undergraduate course.  I look upon you as a potential teacher or colleague-in-the-making and thus, although I'm still leading the class, democracy more or less rules.  This means that while typically I will have an agenda, I also want the class to veer off into other illuminating avenues.  I expect more active and regular participation than in an undergraduate class.  Passivity on your part--always waiting for me to guide you to important passages and points--is inappropriate.  A high degree of intellectual inquisitiveness and resourcefulness is assumed of all students in a graduate seminar.

SYLLABUS
 

Underneath the class date, I will put links to websites relevant to the issues/texts of the week or to my lecture summaries from the undergraduate version of this course.  In the syllabus calendar per se (right column) I will post miscellaneous updates and notes.