Required texts (available at Penn Book Center, 34th & Sansom)

Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Huntly; or, Memoirs of a Sleep-Walker (Penguin)
Lydia Maria Child, Hobomok (Rutgers)
William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! (Vintage)
Kathryn Harrison, The Kiss (Bard)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (Penguin)
Henry James, The Aspern Papers and The Turn of the Screw (Penguin)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (Plume)
Cynthia Ozick, The Shawl (Vintage)

Formal assignments and course policies (grade penalties apply)

Two essays (~40% of grade)                    Mid-term exam (~20% of grade)
Class participation (~20% of grade)          Final exam (~20% of grade)

You are required to be present, on-time, and well prepared for every class meeting.  You may be called upon at any time to contribute to discussion.  After the second unexcused absence, each additional unexcused absence will lower your semester grade one-third of a letter grade.  For an absence to be excused, illness or extraordinary circumstance must be documented.  Chronic lateness (late more than twice) will lower your semester grade at least one-third of a letter grade.  Excessive lateness is grounds for failure.

Essay due-dates are indicated on the schedule of classes below.  Topic assignments will be posted to the on-line syllabus at least one week before the due-date.  Late essays will be marked down one-third of a letter grade for each day beyond the due date.  Essays more than three days late will be accepted only with a signed letter of excuse from the Dean’s office.  Please print essays in an easy-to-read 12-point typeface, double-spaced throughout, with one-inch margins on all four sides.  Give your essay a good title, and be sure to mark all pages with your name and the page number and to staple them together.  Always quote accurately, and provide parenthetical page-number citations for every quotation.

It is your responsibility to be familiar with the University’s Code of Academic Integrity.  Instances of academic dishonesty are grounds for failure and will be referred to the College Office for adjudication.

The mid-term exam date is indicated on the schedule of classes below.  (The final exam date remains to be determined.)  The mid-term will cover all of the readings and classroom work from the first half of the course.  The final will be comprehensive, although the emphasis will be placed on material covered after the mid-term.  If you miss an exam and want to take a make-up, you must provide a signed letter of excuse from the Dean’s office.

Schedule of classes (readings marked 4 will be provided)
 

R 9/5	Introduction to the course
T 9/10  R 9/12	Charles Brockden Brown, Edgar Huntly, 1-150 Edgar Huntly, 151-285
T 9/17   R 9/19	Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle”4 Edgar Allan Poe, “The Pit and the Pendulum”4 essay #1 due in class    assignment Lydia Maria Child, Hobomok, 1-56
T 9/24 R 9/26	Hobomok, 57-150 Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, 1-43 (“Preface” and “The Custom-House”)
T 10/1 R 10/3	The Scarlet Letter, 45-158 (chs. 1-15) The Scarlet Letter, 159-228 (chs. 16-24)
T 10/8 R 10/10	Henry James, The Turn of the Screw, 145-262 (entire narrative) The Turn of the Screw, discussion continued
T 10/15 R 10/17	Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!, 3-140 (chs. 1-5) (it should be helpful to consult the Chronology and Genealogy on pages 305-09) Absalom, Absalom!, 141-234 (chs. 6-7)
T 10/22 R 10/24	Absalom, Absalom!, 235-303 (chs. 8-9) mid-term exam
T 10/29 R 10/31	Philip K. Dick, “We Can Remember It for You Wholesale”4 William Gibson, “Johnny Mnemonic”4 Cynthia Ozick, The Shawl (“The Shawl” and “Rosa”)
T 11/5 R 11/7	Leslie Marmon Silko, “Yellow Woman”4 Allen Barnett, “Philostorgy, Now Obscure”4
M 11/11	essay #2 due by 4:00 pm in my Bennett 114 mailbox
T 11/12 R 11/14	Toni Morrison, Beloved, 1-73 Beloved, 74-165
T 11/19 R 11/21	Beloved, 167-235 Beloved, 237-275
T 11/26 R 11/28	tba No class—Thanksgiving
T 12/3 R 12/5	Harrison, The Kiss, 1-207 (entire narrative) The Kiss, discussion continued
tba	final examination