English 780: American Literary Genres -- The Bestseller

Dr. Sherry Linkon, Youngstown State University

GOALS

By the end of the quarter, you will
  1. understand the concept of literary genres
  2. understand historical and recent ideas about popular fiction
  3. understand how popular fiction fits into the history of American literature and American culture
  4. gain awareness of the relationship between texts and their audiences
  5. gain awareness of changing ideas about the value of literature
  6. improve your skills in researching and writing about American literature To achieve these goals, we will read and discuss several popular novels from the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries together with recent critical writing about popular fiction. You will also complete an individual research project and present your findings, which will allow you to pursue your own interests related to this course, to develop your research and writing skills, and to engage in your own critical analysis of a bestselling novel.

    TEXTS

    Susanna Rowson, Charlotte Temple
    Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin
    Horatio Alger, Jr. Ragged Dick
    Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth

    In addition, I have placed the following secondary books on reserve at Maag Library:

    Nina Baym, Woman's Fiction: A Guide to Novels by and about Women in America, 1820-1870
    Cathy Davidson, Revolution and the Word
    Cathy Davidson, ed. Reading in America: Literature and Social History
    Michael Denning, Mechanic Accents
    Jane Tompkins, Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790-1860

    The course schedule below gives specific assignments from these books. I understand that reserve readings are inconvenient; however, the only other option would be for you to purchase several additional books. I figure inconvenience is better than extra expense. The best way for you to handle the reserve readings is to treat them as an extra textbook. Go to Maag during the first week of the quarter and copy all the articles. All told, this copying will cost about what another textbook would. Think o f all the money you're saving -- the price of one book versus the price of several!

    COURSE REQUIREMENTS

    1. Response papers: For each of the four novels, write a one-page response to the novel and any associated critical reading. DO NOT simply summarize the novel or critical chapter. Comment on its value, its meaning, your own experience of reading it, or how it relates to other texts in the course. If I've assigned a critical reading with the novel, you should write about how the critical reading relates to the novel. Your goal should be to demonstrate that you've read and thought critically about the a ssigned readings. Your responses may not be longer than one page, but you may single space them. 10% each or 40% of the course grade.

    2. Research project: Choose one twentieth-century bestseller, read it, and then do your own research on the novel's history, critical and popular responses to it, how it fits into the period when it was popular, and/or how it compares with other bestselle rs. Write a critical paper making an argument about the novel's significance in terms of American literature, cultural history, and/or popular fiction. Prepare a 10 - 15 minute presentation summarizing your research plus a 1-page handout for the class. We'll talk in class about how to approach this research project -- what sources to find, how to locate them, etc. I strongly recommend that you submit a rough draft of your paper during the 4th week of the quarter for me to review. That way, I can help you write the best paper possible. Please be prepared to tell me which novel you're investigating by Aug. 1. 50%

    3. Attendance and participation: Be here, be prepared, and participate. We'll all have a better time and learn more if you do. 10%

      COURSE SCHEDULE

      7/24:	Dr.Tingley, Introduction to popular fiction
7/25:	No class -- reading day
7/26:	No class -- reading day
7/27:	Dr.  Stephan, Discussion of Charlotte Temple
Read Charlotte Temple and Davidson's introduction to the tex

7/31:	More on Charlotte Temple Response papers due
8/1:	Books as commodities, nineteenth-century ideas about novels, popular
genres
READ Davidson, Revolution and the Word, Ch. 3
8/2:	Read Baym, Women's Fiction excerpt
8/3:	Read Uncle Tom's Cabin 
	Response papers due

8/7:	Read Tompkins, Sensational Designs excerpt
8/8:	Read Zboray, "Antebellum Reading and the Ironies of Technological
innovation," in Davidson, Reading in America
Back round on dime novels

8/9:	Read Ragged Dick
8/10:	Read Denning, "Introduction" and Chs. 3 and 4 
	Response papers due

8/14:	No class -- individual conferences on research projects
8/15:	Read Sicherman, "Sense and Sensibility," in Davidson, Reading in America
8/16:	Read House of Mirth
	Response papers due
8/17:  	Current bestsellers -- What's hot and why?
Optional:	Drafts of research papers due

8/21:	Presentations
8/22:	Presentations
8/23:	Presentations
8/24:	Presentations 
	Research papers due