Louisiana Literature                                
(an online course)*

ENGL A-351  Summer 2012
[Eight week session: May 21 to July 18]
Dr. Barbara C. Ewell

Note: Information posted March 20, 2012; all material here remains 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, the completion of a multi-part research and writing project on a Louisiana writer, and a final examination.

* This course will be conducted through the internet and requires good access to Blackboard.com. Pre-course readiness workshops (offered online) may be required for those unfamiliar with online courses. Online courses also require a certain amount of self-discipline and maturity as a student.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

Tentative List of Required Texts:
The following texts have been ordered through the Loyola bookstore. Some texts will be also available as e-texts.

Butler, Robert. Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. 1992; New York: Grove, 2001.
Gaines, Ernest. A Lesson Before Dying. 1993; New York: Vintage, 1997.  ISBN: 0375702709
*Northrup, Solomon. Twelve Years a Slave. 1853; New York: Dover, 2000. ISBN 046-41143-5
    *Northrup, Solomon. Twelve Years A Slave Eds. Joseph Logsdon and Sue Eakin. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U P, 1968. ISBN     978-0-8071-0150-6
Osbey, Brenda Marie. All Saints: New and Selected Poems. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State U P. ISBN: 0-8071-2198-3
Saxon, Lyle.  Children of Strangers. 1937; New Orleans: Pelican, 1989.
Wells, Rebecca. Little Altars Everywhere. New York: Perennial, 1996. ISBN: 0060976845
Williams, Tennessee. A Streetcar Named Desire, 1947.  Signet Book, 1989.

Ruth Stuart, Grace King, Alice Dunbar-Nelson, George W. Cable, Ada Jack Carver, and others may also be included electronically.
* Any edition of Northrup is OK; the LSU edition has a fine introduction; the Dover edition is inexpensive.

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 may 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 Monday midnight. By the next Thursday, everyone in the class will have commented on or reacted to the responses of least two other people (100-150 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 on the works of a specific Louisiana writer, both those covered in the course and from a supplementary list.  These assignments (two short essays and an annotated bibliography) will be due throughout the semester and will involve various degrees of research.

Final Examination (15-20%)
A comprehensive essay exam. Exemptions will be granted when all course work is submitted on time.

NOTE: 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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