Reading and Assignment Schedule

You will be responsible for having read the works listed below before coming to class for that day.  Staggered due dates for critical reception papers, research paper drafts, and readers’ reports are included in the schedule as well.  All items listed as due should be turned in to the OAKS assignment folder before class (5:00).

W Jan 10

Course Introduction

W Jan 17

J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

Student Researcher–Payton Caldwell

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Jan 17
      • Draft Due–Jan 31
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Feb 7

W Jan 24

Shirley Jackson, We Have Always Lived in the Castle  (1962)

Student Researchers–Suze Guthmann and Alice Ohlandt

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Jan 24
      • Draft Due–Feb 7
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Feb 14

W Jan 31

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)
Supplemental Reading: Mary Klages, “Postmodernism”

Student Researcher–Michela Polito

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Jan 31
      • Draft Due–Feb 14
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Feb 21

W Feb 7

Don DeLillo, White Noise (1985)
Supplemental Readings: “Simulation and Simulacra”‘and Lena Boroditsky, “Lost in Translation”

Student Researcher–Eleanor Mead

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Feb 7
      • Draft Due–Feb 21
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Feb 28

W Feb 14

Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried (1990)

Student Researcher–Ron Menchaca

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Feb 14
      • Draft Due–Feb 28
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Mar 13

W Feb 21

Toni Morrison, Song of Solomon (1977)
Supplemental Reading: Virginia Hamilton, “The People Could Fly”

Student Researcher–Catherine Quarles

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Feb 21
      • Draft Due–Mar 13
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Mar 20

W Feb 28

Louise Erdrich, Tracks (1988)
Supplemental Reading: Erdrich and Dorris, “Who Owns the Land”

Student Researcher–Peyton Niemeyer

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Feb 28
      • Draft Due–Mar 13
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Mar 20

W Mar 6 

Spring Break

W Mar 13

Jane Smiley, A Thousand Acres (1991)

Student Researcher–Lennie Barnes

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Mar 13
      • Draft Due–Mar 27
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Apr 3

W Mar 20

Alison Bechdel, Fun Home (2006)

Student Researcher–Lindsey Copeland

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Mar 20
      • Draft Due–Apr 3
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Apr 10

W Mar 27

Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing (2017)

Student Researcher–Melissa Hughes

      • Critical Reception Paper Due–Mar 27
      • Draft Due–Apr 10
      • Readers’ Reports Due–Apr 17

W Apr 3

Discuss Research and Writing Issues

W Apr 10

Charles Yu, Interior Chinatown (2020)

W Apr 17

Last Day–Class Wrap-Up

Th Apr 18

  • Final Resarched Analysis Due (by midnight in OAKS assignment folder)

April 23

  • Novel Evaluation Due (by midnight in OAKS assignment folder)