ENG 3230 CCE
Course Credit by Examination
ENG 3230鈥擜merican Literature, 1918鈥揚resent
Three Semester Hours
SS 10/12
Prerequisites
University Requisite: ENG 2010 or 2020 or 250 or two courses above ENG 200/2000
Course Description
Authors, works, and genres of American literature from the 20th century to the present.
Textbook and Supplies
- Abbey, Edward. Desert Solitaire. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1988. [ISBN: 9780816510573]
- Anderson, Sherwood, and Glen A. Love. Winesburg, Ohio. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. [ISBN: 9780199540723]
- Hemingway, Ernest. The Old Man and the Sea. New York: Scribner Paperback Fiction, 1995. [ISBN: 9780684801223]
- Ramazani, Jahan, Richard Ellman, and Robert O鈥機lair. The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 2003. [ISBN: 9780393979787]
- Robinson, Marilynne. Housekeeping. [1st Picador ed. New York: Picador, 20041980. [ISBN: 9780312424091]
- Steinbeck, John and Robert J. DeMott. The Grapes of Wrath. New York: Penguin Books, 20061939. [ISBN: 9780143039433]
- West, Nathanael. The Day of the Locust. New York: Library of America, 1997. [ISBN: 9781883011284]
- Williams, Terry Tempest. Refuge. New York: Vintage Books, 1992. [ISBN: 9780679740247]
In addition, every college student should have access to a quality, hardbound dictionary.
Note: You may use any available edition of the texts, except for the Norton anthology, which must be the edition listed.
Reading Assignments
Novels
- Winesburg, Ohio (Sherwood Anderson)
- The Day of the Locust (Nathanael West)
- The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
- The Old Man and the Sea (Ernest Hemingway)
- Desert Solitaire (Edward Abbey)
- Housekeeping (Marilynne Robinson)
- Refuge (Terry Tempest Williams)
From The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry
- Selections from Spoon River Anthology (in vol. 1) (Edgar Lee Masters)
- The Wasteland (in vol. 1) (T.S. Eliot)
- 鈥淭he Fish鈥 (in vol. 2) (Elizabeth Bishop)
- 鈥淭he Purse-Seine鈥 (in vol. 1) (Robinson Jeffers)
- 鈥淗urt Hawks鈥 (in vol. 1) (Robinson Jeffers)
- 鈥淪hine, Perishing Republic鈥 (in vol. 1) (Robinson Jeffers)
- 鈥淐armel Point鈥 (in vol. 1) (Robinson Jeffers)
- 鈥淭he Road Not Taken鈥 (in vol. 1) (Robert Frost)
- 鈥淭wo Tramps in Mudtime鈥 (in vol. 1) (Robert Frost)
- 鈥淟ong Time Ago鈥 (in vol. 2) (Leslie Marmon Silko)
Nature of the Examination
The following are meant as a guide only, to give you some sense of the type of questions to expect on the exam. Besides questions such as these, you will also be expected to define important theoretical concepts and to match major literary theorists with the statement that best describes them.
Sample question one:
For the following passage, identify the title of the story, the author, and the relevance and significance of that extract to the overall story.
I ain鈥檛 saying I鈥檓 like Jesus . . . But I got tired like Him, an鈥 I got mixed up like Him, an鈥 I went into the wilderness like Him, without no campin鈥 stuff. Nighttime I鈥檇 lay on my back an鈥 look up at the stars; morning I鈥檇 set an鈥 watch the sun come up; midday I鈥檇 look down from a hill at the rollin鈥 dry country; evenin鈥 I鈥檇 foller the sun down. Sometimes I鈥檇 pray like I always done. On鈥檡 I couldn鈥 figure what I was prayin鈥 for. There was the hills, an鈥 there was me, an鈥 we wasn鈥檛 separate no more. We was one thing. An鈥 that one thing was holy.
Sample question two:
Write a fully developed three-part essay (with an introduction, body, and conclusion) drawing upon two of the novels that you read in this course, comparing and contrasting how they represent the theme of broken dreams, failed ambitions, and unrealized opportunities. Be thorough in your response and deal with all parts of the question.