 Course
Description and Goals
This course seeks to explore some of the literary, historical and social
contexts of The Awakening, Kate Chopin's remarkable novel, published
in 1899. Our focus will be on the important shifts that were occurring
in American culture at the end of the last century, especially with respect
to notions of gender, race and empire. By writing and by close readings
of Chopin's work, as well as several other significant works of fiction
published in 1899 (by Charles Chesnutt, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, Frank Norris
and others), we will try to understand some of the issues and assumptions
that shaped the era in which these works were written a hundred years ago.
And in the process, we will try to learn something about our own fin
de siecle / fin de millenium.
Two thirds of the course will be conducted on-line, using primarily
email and this web-site to discuss and reflect on our reading and writing.
We will also learn to use some of the resources of the internet.
Course
Requirements
Weekly
Comments & Periodic Summaries
The heart of this course (apart from reading the texts themselves) will
be our electronic "discussions": asking and answering each other's
questions and sharing our responses. These discussions will be conducted
in two or three groups (depending on the size and preferences of the class),
each with its own email listserv.
Weekly Discussions:
Discussions will be organized as follows*:
1. One week before the selected reading is due, I will also post some
brief introductory comments and a set of more-or-less standard questions
to guide everyone's reading of the text or texts.
2. By the next Saturday midnight, everyone will have:
a.) read the texts and contexts, and
b.) posted a comment to your small group (including me), responding
to at least one of questions I have posed and raising any other issues
elicited by the readings.
The comment should be roughly 150-250 words--about two screenfuls on
an email message.
The main thing will be to get to your point; try to avoid mere summary,
though be sure you've provided enough context to be clear; and don't neglect
to refer to specific places in the text when appropriate.
3. By Tuesday midnight, everyone in the class will have commented on
or reacted to the responses of least two other people from their small
group. (About 50-150 words--or one screen). These should be posted to everyone
in the small group (and me).
4. By the end of the week (Friday), I will post to the website a sampling
of the comments and interesting excerpts from the groups, as well as my
own reflections on the discussions. I will also post new text questions
and website evaluations (as they become available), and the next round
of readings will begin.
*On weeks that we meet on campus or when holidays occur, the posting days
are shifted to Friday or Monday. Check the syllabus for details.
Periodic Summaries:
Three times during the semester, a Summary Reflection will also be required
and posted to the Class Listserv by Monday midnight [Feburary 22, March
22, and April 26]. These comments (about 200-300 words) should reflect
you best thoughts on the readings for that four-to-five-week period: what
you found most interesting; the connections you discern among the readings;
the insight (yours or someone else's) that you have found most provocative, etc. You might even revise one of your initial comments, incorporating
others' responses to deepen your reflection. [More.]
Summary Reflections are the only email comments that will be graded--on
the basis of their originality, thoughtfulness, coherence and relevance.
Your participation in these weekly discussions, including the timely
submission of the Comments and Responses, as well as the three Summary
Reflections, will constitute 30 - 35% of your grade.
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Website
Evaluations
As information on the web continues to proliferate, we need to know
better how to evaluate its usefulness and reliability. [There are increasing
numbers of websites devoted to evaluation that you can also consult on
these issues]. This assignment requires you to locate two internet
sites, on an author or topic relevant to the course, explain how you found
it and why you chose it, and then evaluate its usefulness as a resource:
what kinds of information and features it provides; what sources and authority
does it have; what are its strengths and weaknesses.
The websites you select and your evaluations will be posted to the class
listserv and posted on the website.
You must also submit a paper version of your evaluation (200-250 words).
This assignment will represent 15-20% of your grade. (More
information on this assignment.)
 Research
Essay [See revised assignment]
Students will complete a formal research essay (6-10 pp.) on some aspect
of The Awakening and its relation to other fin de siecletexts
and contexts. Revised versions of these essays will be incorporated into
the final project. The essay will be due in stages: prosposed topics will
be due February 7; a draft will be due on Monday, March 8 at the WAC Lab
for feedback and responses from WAC tutors. The final paper version will
be due on Friday, March 19. This work will constitute 15-20% of your grade.
[Check revised due dates.]
Format for formal papers:
All essays should be typed or printed and proofread, with any errors neatly
corrected. Double-space, type or print on one side of the page only, and
number each page. Separate computer sheets. A title page should be included.
MLA or APA documentation style should be followed.
Final
Project: Centennial Website
The final project will be the collaborative construction of webpages
highlighting the centennial contexts of The Awakening. Material
from the research essays, website evaluations, and other internet resources
will be incorporated into a collective centennial website. Students will
work together in small groups to develop portions of the website, as well
as linking individual papers and external sites with other relevant materials. The
Final Project will represent 20-25% of your grade.
Final
Examination
The usual: comprehensive, some essays, some "objective." Scheduled
for Saturday, May 8; more details as the course proceeds. 10-15% of your
grade.
Class
Participation
You are responsible for timely and regular contributions to your small
discussion group every week. If you are for any reason unable to meet the
established deadlines or fulfill the assignments, please advise me (and
your group members) as soon as possible. Since our class meetings are both
infrequent and important, the penalty for more than one absence will be
a one-letter reduction in the final grade; more than two absences will
result in failure of the course. Chronic or severe lateness with weekly
assignments also constitutes grounds for failure.
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 Extra
Credit Options
Extra credit of up to 5% of your grade is available for attending and
writing a short report about a literary or other intellectual event during
the semester.
Requirements:
1. Attend a lecture, reading, play or other literary event. [Check the
Loyola or
Newcomb Calendars
for good possibilities; if you're not sure something is appropriate, ask
me first.]
2. Write a brief (300-500 words) evaluative review of the event.
3. Submit the review to me (emailed or typewritten) within two weeks of
your attendance.
Meeting
Dates and Times
The class will meet from 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p. m. in either the
WAC Lab or a Monroe Seminar Room on the following Saturdays:
January 16 [brief organizational meeting], January 23, February 20,
March 13, and April 17.
SPECIAL
CENTENNIAL EVENTS
Both the South Central Women's Studies Association, meeting at Newcomb
March 12-14, and the Tennessee Williams Festival, meeting in the French
Quarter from March 24-28, will include special events marking the centennial
of The Awakening. The Kate Chopin Conference will be held
in Natchitoches from April 8-10.
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Required
Texts
(Note: Texts for the course are available in the University
Bookstore. Some additional readings are available online and/or will be
on reserve at the library [after it opens!])
Required:
Chesnutt, Charles. The Collected Stories. Ed. William Andrews.
New York: Penguin, 1992. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening. Ed. Margo
Culley. 2nd ed. New York: Norton, 1994. Chopin, Kate. The Awakening
and Selected Stories. Ed. Barbara Solomon. New York: Signet,
1976.
DuBois, W. E. B. The Souls of Black Folk. New York: Dover, 1994.*
Norris, Frank. McTeague. New York: Penguin, 1981.
Veblen, Thorsten. The Theory of the Leisure Class. New York: Dover,
1994.*
*These texts are also available on-line. Other short texts will be placed
online and/or on reserve in Monroe Library .
Optional:
Dunbar-Nelson, Alice. Works. Vol. 1. New York: Oxford UP, 1988.
This book is only available in hardback. Copies will be on reserve, and
an online edition is available at the Digital Schomberg website [http://149.123.1.8/schomburg/writers_aa19/toc.html]
Also Recommended:
A Pocket Style Manual. 2nd ed. Ed. Diana Hacker. New York: St. Martin's,
1996.
Online!: A Reference Guide to Using Internet Sources. 2nd ed/ Ed.
Andrew Harnack and Eugene Kleppinger. New York: St. Martin's,
1999.
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