Course greeting & introduction
-- Read through AML 2070.0541 onlinesyllabus and course policies sites. After this first week of class, I will hold you responsible for reading this material, and will expect you to be familiar with the terms of the class.
-- I will lecture briefly on the general historical context for our first three novels, 1919, As I Lay Dying, and Nightwood. I will also elaborate on the goals of and expectations for the course.
-- In the second portion of class, we will view a segment of Robert Hughes' series American Visions, to familiarize you with artistic movements coincident with the time of our readings.
-- E-MAIL ASSIGNMENT: submit to me (at nickym@melczarek.net) by tonight a brief self-introduction and locator information, containing:
READ AHEAD: The first novel we will read, John Dos Passos' 1919, is quite long. Begin reading it this week, so that you will have sufficient pages read for us to discuss in week three. Read some every day, and take notes as you read. Be sure to keep up with the other assigned readings for the course, such as chapters from Kershner's The Twentieth-Century Novel.
-- Have read Chapter 2 of Kershner's The Twentieth-Century Novel, pp.31-62. We will discuss the entire chpater, but will pay particular attention to pp.40-44 on Marx, Darwin, Spencer, Freud, and Nietzsche. We will also address the "-isms" involved in U.S. literature through to the 1940s.
-- Have read pp.63-68 from Chapter 3 of Kershner's The Twentieth-Century Novel. We will integrate this material into a continuing discussion of Tuesday's material.
-- In the second portion of class, we will view a segment of Ken Burns' series Jazz, to familiarize you with music movements coincident with the time of our readings.