Louisiana Literature                                
(an online course)*

ENGL A-351  Fall 2009
Dr. Barbara C. Ewell
 

Note: Information posted March 23, 2009; thus all material here is provisional and subject to change. Check for further updates.

The rich literary heritage of Louisiana deserves a course of its own. Settled by Europeans early in the eighteenth century, Louisiana has been shaped by many forces, including the slave-holding culture of the South, the rural Acadian refugees, and the complex perspectives of its major port city, New Orleans. In recent times, those primary cultures have been overlaid by twentieth-century tensions of industrialization, especially in the exploitation of oil and gas. Writers and audiences have found this confluence of cultures irresistible, and the writings about the state include works by some of American literature's most significant figures, from George Washington Cable and Kate Chopin, to Faulkner and Robert Penn Warren, to Ernest Gaines and Anne Rice.

Requirements will include reading and reflection on the texts, participation in weekly discussion forums on Blackboard.com, and the completion of a multi-part research and writing project on a Louisiana writer, and a final collaborative electronic presentation of your work.

* Though most of the course will be conducted online (requiring access to Blackboard.com through a browser such as Explorer or Firefox), there will be two scheduled on-campus meetings, an organizational meeting on Friday evening, September 4  (6:00 p.m.--8:30 p.m.) and Friday evening, December 11 (6:00 p.m.--8:30 p.m.) in BOBET 100 (The WAC Lab).  Please contact me after August 1, 2009, if serious hardship or unavoidable conflict will keep you from attending the required September meeting. Students within driving distance should plan to attend----and students who attend will find that the course goes much more smoothly.

Tentative List of Required Texts:
The following is a proposed list of texts and writers, but changes and substitutions will occur. Some texts may also be available as e-texts. Don't buy anything yet that you don't want to read.

Butler, Robert. Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. 1992; New York: Grove, 2001.
Chopin, Kate.  At Fault, 1890.  Ed. Bernard Koloski, Penguin 2002.
Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. 1993; New York: Vintage, 1997.  ISBN: 0375702709
Gautreaux, Tim. The Clearing. New York: Vintage, 2004.
Northrup, Solomon, Twelve Years a Slave. 1853; New York: Dover, 2000.
Osbey, Brenda Marie. All Saints: New and Selected Poems. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP. ISBN: 0-8071-2198-3
Saxon, Lyle.  Children of Strangers . 1937; New Orleans: Pelican, 1989.
Warren, Robert Penn. All the King's Men. 1946; New York: Harcourt, 1996.
*Wells, Rebecca. Little Altars Everywhere. New York: Perennial,1996. ISBN: 0060976845
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1947.  Signet Book, 1989.
 There may also be selections from Ruth Stuart, Grace King, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, George W. Cable, Ada Jack Carver, and/or Yusef Komunyakaa.

Recommended/Optional:
Instant Access: The Pocket Reference for Writers. Michael L. Keene and Katherine H. Adams. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2003. ISBN: 0072819928

These books will also be available for purchase at Maple Street Books (support your local bookstores!) If you're trying to cut costs, many texts are also available secondhand through other commercial booksellers.

Course Prerequisites
Credit for ENGL T-125, ENGL 205, or their equivalents. Sophomore status or permission of the instructor is recommended.

Course Requirements (tentative)
Weekly Comments  (35%)
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 one or more groups (depending on the size of the class), using the Discussion Board on Blackboard.com to facilitate exchanges.  Students will be expected to post a substantive comment  (150-300 words) in response to the text and my introductory remarks by Saturday midnight. By the next Tuesday, everyone in the class will have commented on or reacted to the responses of least two other people (75-150 words).
Your participation in these weekly discussions, including the timely submission of comments and responses, will be graded contractually (all assignments = A; fewer = B, etc.) and will constitute your "class attendance."
You will be responsible for timely and regular contributions to the discussion group every week. If any lateness or irregularity persists in your submissions, you will be asked to drop the course or receive a failing grade.

Keeping up with these discussions is one of the most challenging parts of an online course, and falling behind is the chief reason for attrition--just remember that "online" isn't "self-paced."

Writing Assignments (25-30%)
The formal writing in this course will be a series of assignments based on the works covered in the course and their contexts.  These assignments, due throughout the semester and involving various degrees of research, will provide some of the basic content for a final class presentation.

Wiki Presentation of Research (15-20%)
One of the ways that we'll reflect and take advantage of the online nature of this course will be a final electronic presentation of your research on a Louisiana writer.  Some details and criteria may be established together, and you will be referred to workshops and other opportunities to learn the basics (or share techniques) for creating wikis and presenting your work effectively.  Collaboration with other members of the class will be required. The collaborative projects will be presented at our final meeting on Friday evening, December 11, 2009. 

Final Examination (15-20%)
A comprehensive essay exam. Due on or about December 11.

IF YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IS NOT ACCURATE IN LORA and on BLACKBOARD, YOU WILL NOT RECEIVE IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT THE COURSE--even if you register for it.

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