English 104, The Twentieth Century
TR 10:30-12 STIT B21
Kathryn Conrad

kconrad@english
http://dept.english.upenn.edu/~kconrad/104home.html
Office Hours: W 5-6; Th 3-4

This page last updated 4/28/97.

Course assistants:
Lana Younes (lanay@sas)
Cynthia Port (cport@english)
Vic Tulli (vtulli@english)
Course assistants' office hours to be announced.

On this page:

Course Description | Texts
Requirements | Syllabus

Description:

This general introduction to 20th-century literature will cover a broad range of topics and trends of concern to writers in our century, with particular emphasis on the formal experimentation associated with Modern and postmodern writers. Some questions we will consider over the semester: what is the relationship between authorship and authority? the author and the reader? literary texts and political change? In order to begin thinking about these questions, we will read from a variety of genres, including novels, short stories, poetry, and at least one graphic novel.

Note: This course fulfills the Arts & Letters "General Requirement" within the College General Requirement. This is an introductory course--not one for senior majors.

Texts:

Please consult House of Our Own Bookstore, 3920 Spruce (222-1576), for the required texts for this course.

A bulkpack for the course will be available at Wharton Reprographics, in the basement of Steinberg-Dietrich, by the second full week of classes.

Requirements:

Grades for this course will be based on several essay tests/quizzes, one paper (5-7 pages), a midterm, a final exam, and class participation (attendance, discussion, and listserver participation: students will be required to post at least one discussion question to the course listserver [conrad104@english] over the course of the term).

If you find you are not getting listserver messages, send a message to english-help@english and be sure you are on the listserver.

Students are encouraged to make use of the Syllabus: January
Tues 14: Introduction
Thurs 16: Hemingway

Tues 21: Hemingway
Thurs 23: (Prof. Conrad gone. Lecture: Lana Younes) Eliot, "The Waste Land"

If you are enrolled for the course but find that you aren't receiving listserver messages, send a message to english-help@english and ask to be added.

Tues 28: Finish up Hemingway left from Tues. 1/21. Eliot cont. ("The Waste Land," "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," "Gerontion"); Yeats ("Sailing to Byzantium," "The Second Coming")
Thurs 30: Poetry cont.; Bulkpack: Ortega y Gassett, Wimsatt & Beardsley.

February
Tues 4: (CLASS CANCELLED due to illness)
Thurs 6: Ortega y Gassett, Wimsatt and Beardsley cont. Woolf, 1st half.

Tues 11: QUIZ. Continue with Woolf.
Thurs 13: Woolf, final day. 1st 2 stories in *Dubliners*.

Tues 18: *Dubliners*, esp. "The Sisters," "An Encounter," "Two Gallants," and "The Boarding House."
Thurs 20: *Dubliners*, esp. "A Little Cloud," "Counterparts," "A Mother," and "The Dead."

Tues 25: *Ulysses*, chs. 1, 3, and 4.
Thurs 27: *Ulysses* cont.

March
Tues 4: Beckett
Thurs 6: MIDTERM

(Tues 11: Spring Break
Thurs 13: Spring Break)

Tues 18: Poetry selections from *Norton*: Pound, "A Pact," "In a Station of the Metro," Cantos I and VII. Stevens, "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird," "The Snow Man," "The Idea of Order at Key West." Stein, "Susie Asado," "A Valentine to Sherwood Anderson." Read Pound's essay on Vorticism/Imagism.
Thurs 20: Finish poetry. Bulkpack: Burroughs. Paper topics available.

Tues 25: QUIZ; Pynchon
Thurs 27: Pynchon

April
Tues 1: Finish Pynchon; Morrison (through page 55 at least). Check out the Remedios Varo painting mentioned on p. 21 of *Crying of Lot 49*.
Thurs 3: Morrison

Fri 4: PAPER DUE no later than 4:00 pm. Note change of date. Tues 8: Morrison
Thurs 10: Kingston

Tues 15: Kingston
Thurs 17: QUIZ

Tues 22: Spiegelman. Bulkpack: selections from *Understanding Comics*.
Thurs 24: Spiegelman

Thurs May 1, 11:00 am - 1:00 pm: Final exam.

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