English 52B FALL 1998:
"Studies in American Fiction: Melville and Pynchon"
Peter Schmidt/ English Dept/ Swarthmore College
class: TTh 2:40-3:55pm, Hicks 211
email: pschmid1 Web: http://www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/pschmid1
office hours: LPAC 206, W 3-4pm; Th 4-5pm; and by appointment
office phone and voicemail: 8156



GO directly below to course syllabus/assignments by class

A study of two writers with many shared ambitions, interests, and compulsions, with emphasis on their work in shorter forms as well as the epic-length novel. Melville readings will include "Bartleby the Scrivener" and "Benito Cereno" and the short novel Israel Potter as well as Moby-Dick. Pynchon readings will be "Entropy," "The Secret Integration," The Crying of Lot 49, and Mason & Dixon.

Course Requirements
Regular attendance: more than 3 unexcused absences over the course of the semester will hurt your grade. To get an excused absence (sickness, family emergency, etc.) you need to get a note from the Health Center and/or the Dean's office; please try to let me know ahead of time through yourself or a friend if you know you'll miss class.
Come to class having studied the readings and other materials assigned for that day.
Participation in class discussions and other class activities, including both leading class discussions and contributing when others lead. Each person in class will be asked to lead class discussion with a group several times during the semester.

Completion of writing assignments on time. Late papers and journal entries will be penalized. Completion of any assigned revisions to papers may also part of the course requirements.
Assigned writing for English 52B will mostly be of two kinds:



Grading: Quality of class participation counts 25%; Papers 75%. Poor attendance and class participation and late papers will negatively affect your grade, just as poor written work will. Clear improvement in your writing over the course of the semester will help your final grade, as will thoughtful class participation.



A note about honesty and coursework: All writing that you turn in for this English class should be yours alone and done solely for this course. When you are borrowing ideas and language from others it is your responsibility to acknowledge these sources accurately; anything less constitutes plagiarism and severe penalties may be involved (including flunking the course and suspension for a semester) regardless of whether you "intended" to plagiarize or not.
For more information, see the Swarthmore English Literature Department's Guidelines on Plagiarism and Citing Sources for English Papers. A copy of this document is available on the Department's Web Page: (www.swarthmore.edu/Humanities/english). Students should also consult the Swarthmore College Student Handbook's section on Academic Honesty, which has advice relevant for all your classes at Swarthmore.


Plagiarism penalties do not mean you should be afraid of consulting with others (fellow students, me) or of borrowing good ideas from others: it is very simple to acknowledge these with a bibliography.


I will be happy to confer with you about any issues involving citing sources or plagiarism if you have questions.


ENGLISH 52B / MELVILLE AND PYNCHON

SYLLABUS FALL 1998



Class date Assignments

Sept. 3 course introduction

VIEW FIRST HALF OF 1998 TV PRODUCTION OF MOBY-DICK (2 hrs.), Kohlberg 116, 7:30pm

Sept. 4 VIEW SECOND HALF OF 1998 TV PRODUCTION OF MOBY-DICK (2 hrs.), Kohlberg 116, 7:30pm


Sept. 8 Moby-Dick, chs. 1-33. Introductory lecture on Melville.

10 Moby-Dick, chs. 34-42. Student-led discussion.
journal entry #1 (1-2pp. double-spaced, on a short passage from chs. 1-42) due in class; exchange with a classmate.

15 Moby-Dick, chs. 43-72
return journal entry #1 in class with your signed comments to its author, then turn in to me at end of class

17 Moby-Dick, chs. 73-99. Student-led discussion.

 

22 Moby-Dick, chs. 100 - Epilogue. Student-led discussion.

24 concluding discussion of Moby-Dick; re-read at least 8-10 chapters
Friday, 25th 3-4pp. paper on Moby-Dick due, LPAC 206, 5pm; no extensions.

 

29 "Bartleby the Scrivener." Student-led discussion.


Oct. 1 "Bartleby" and the first half of "Benito Cereno"

 

6 finish "Benito Cereno." Student-led discussion.
exchange journal entry #2 with a new classmate, on "Bartleby" or "Benito"

8 concluding discussion on "Bartleby" and "Benito"
return journal entry #2 before end of Thursday with signed comments; send a copy with the signed comments to me.

FALL BREAK

20 Israel Potter, chs. 1-13
22 Israel Potter, chs. 14-26: student-led discussion.

27 Thomas Pynchon, "Entropy"; introductory lecture on Pynchon
29 "Entropy" and "The Secret Integration." Student-led discussion.

Nov. 3 "Entropy" and "The Secret Integration," concluding discussion

5 The Crying of Lot 49, chs. 1-2. Student-led discussion.
exchange journal entry #3 with a new classmate, on a short passage from the Pynchon reading so far

10 finish Crying of Lot 49
return journal entry #3 with signed comments


12 re-read as much as possible of Crying of Lot 49; student-led discussion

 

 

 

original cover of the 1967 Bantam paperback edition of the novel

Note on Mason & Dixon: check out the Yahoo Pynchon sites, including the on-line concordance for the novel (allows you to look up names and references and find all the pages on which they are mentioned).

Nov. 17 Mason & Dixon, chs. 1-12; introductory lecture.

In summer 1997 I also wrote an extended essay on Mason & Dixon for the WWWeb; it was one of the seed-germs for English 52B.

Nov. 19 Mason & Dixon, chs. 13-25. Student-led discussion.
exchange journal entry #4 with a new classmate, on a short passage from the Mason & Dixon reading so far

24 Mason & Dixon, chs. 26-44 (pp. 257-447, so take extra time)

return journal entry #4 with signed comments before Thursday; send a copy with the signed comments to me

26 Thanksgiving

Dec. 1 Mason & Dixon, chs. 44-52. Student-led discussion.

3 Mason & Dixon, chs. 53-60. See my essay focusing on some topics in chs. 53-61). See also

Richard Romeo's notes on pp. 511-53 of Mason and Dixon, from Pynchon-L discussion

 

8 Mason & Dixon, chs. 61-73. Student-led discussion.


10 Mason & Dixon, Part III [chs. 74-78]; conclusion to course


Before end of Dec. 15 consult with me about your final paper topic

Dec. 21 10-12pp. research paper on Melville and/or Pynchon, due LPAC 206, 5pm or before; no extensions.