Missouri Western State College Division of Liberal Arts and Sciences Department of English, Foreign Languages and Journalism ENG 210: Approaches to Literature Westward Ho': The Art of Western Literature Section 97 - JGM 119 December 19-21; January 11-13 9:00 am - 12:00 pm and 1:00 pm - 4:00 pm Wintersession 2005-06

Instructors: Dr.  Donaher and Dr. Bensyl
Offices: SS/C 222 L (Donaher) and I (Bensyl)
Office Hours: By Appointment
Phone: 271-5936 (Bensyl) and 271-5964 (Donaher)
Email: bensyl@missouriwestern.edu and  donaher@missouriwestern.edu
URL: http://www.missouriwestern.edu/eflj/faculty/bensyl.asp and  http://staff.missouriwestern.edu/~donaher

Course Philosophy and Objectives

From the Mississippi River to the California coast,  Western America and its associated images have inspired generations of writers, artists, and filmmakers. Their work has provided us with impressive and meaningful, and yes, sometimes stereotypical, images of cowboys, Native Americans, and the Calvary; of  mountains, plains, and deserts; of explorers, pioneers, and gold prospectors. In this course, we will read a small selection of the literature of the West, including fiction, poetry, and drama, and watch films that characterize a variety of the western genres; we will also discuss and write about the western as a literary form.

As part of MWSC's General Studies program, this course is also designed to fulfill the Category IV General Studies Requirement. All English 210 sections provide practice in reading poetry, prose fiction, prose nonfiction, and drama. Upon completion of English 210, a student should be able to:

• Recognize the major characteristics of literary genres
• Discuss literature, orally and in writing, with assurance
• Appreciate literary works which are encountered
• Understand the different ways in which literary theme may be treated in literature.

• Read poetry, prose fiction, and drama
• Investigate various methods of approaching and understanding literature
• Write papers, including themes and essay examinations
• Read a variety of works in which a chosen theme is dominant.

Skills Area - Valuing:

• Compare and contrast historical and cultural ethical perspectives and belief systems.
• Utilize cultural, behavioral, or historical knowledge to clarify and articulate a personal value system.
•  Recognize the ramifications of ones’ value decisions on self and others.
• Recognize conflicts within and between value systems.
• Recognize and analyze the effect of context on ethical decisions.

• Identify works in humanities and fine arts.
• Explain historical, cultural, and social contexts in humanities and fine arts.
• Identify aesthetic standards used to make critical judgments in humanities.
• Understand differences and relationships between formal and popular culture.
• Apply aesthetic standards to works in humanities and fine arts

Required Materials

Required Texts:

• Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. New York: Warner Books, Inc., 1972.
• Lyon, Thomas J. ed. The Literary West: An Anthology of Western American Literature. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.
• Sherwood, Robert Emmet. The Petrified Forest . New York: Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1962.

•  Computer Disks for saving your work.
• A Binder Notebook with notebook paper and pockets for holding hard copies of your writings and copies of materials gathered and received.
• A hole punch, so that materials may be inserted into your notebook.
• Stamina and Good Humor.

Attendance and Promptness

Attendance is mandatory. You can not be gone for any portion of our 6 day schedule. Absences may lower your final grade.

Because of the condensed schedule for this course, you must do most of the readings BETWEEN December 22 and January 10. To help you prepare for our class meetings, there are reading questions over each of the assigned readings. Bring your texts and reading question answers with you to class.

Participation includes the contributions you make to class discussion. Active and insightful contributions to class discussion are not extra credit. Like the written assignments, your substantive comments are part of the minimal requirements for successful completion of the course. Keep in mind that live classroom discussion

gives us an additional indication of how closely and thoughtfully you have read, enabling us to evaluate your knowledge and abilities more fairly and accurately,

gives you prompt feedback on difficult or confusing issues and material,

increases your retention of material through explaining, summarizing, and questioning.

Students are expected to be courteous and respectful in all of their exchanges with the instructor and other students and students should be particularly careful to note how tone and language contribute to the overall impression of their words. The college expects all students to conduct themselves so as to maintain an effective environment for learning; to act responsibly in accordance with good taste; and to respect fully the rights of others.

Any student in this course who has a disability that prevents the fullest expression of abilities should contact either Dr. Bensyl or Dr. Donaher PRIOR to the start of the course, with the appropriate documentation from Mike Ritter's office, to make alternative arrangements.

All assignments are due at the beginning of the hour on the due date. Given the brevity of the course, no work will be accepted late.

You will be called upon to use a computer outside of class time for some of your assignments. Further, all final writings for this course must be word-processed according to MLA guidelines. Save all the work that you do for this class, in both hard and disk copies.

For the course, students will read a variety of stories and poems, a novel, and a play, as well as view several films. In addition to the readings and films, students will answer questions over the readings and films, do in-class work, write a formal paper, and take a final exam. In order to pass the course, you must complete the paper and take the final exam. In addition, the quality of your work, the percentage of the work that you complete, and your efforts at participation will determine your final grade.

Your Final Grade Distribution is as follows:

• Daily Assignments and Participation = 10%
• Formal Paper One = 50%
• Final Exam = 40%

. . . it is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. -- Herman Melville

LW = The Literary West: An Anthology of Western American Literature

NOTE: Each reading assignment below is linked to Reading Questions about the text. Print off the questions, or save them to a disk, and write your responses to the questions as you read.Bring completed Reading Questions with you for class discussion. Questions about the FILMS should be brought to class and filled in while watching the films.

December 19 - Monday

9 am -12 pm:

• Introduction to Course, Syllabus
• Defining the Western Experience and Western Literature
• Readings - Early Narratives:
• Font, [Ventura to Santa Barbara in 1776] LW pp 40-45
• Lewis and Clark, [North Dakota journals from the spring of 1805] LW pp 46-54
• Dutton, "The Valley of the Virgen" LW pp 60-64
• Winnemucca, from Life Among the Piutes LW pp 65-69
• Film:
• How The West Was Lost

• Readings - The Naturalist:
• Muir, "From the Foothills with a Flock of Sheep" LW pp 55-59
• Readings - Western Naturalism:
• Jeffers:
• "Tor House" LW p 142
• "November Surf" LW p 143
• "Signpost" LW p 144
• "The Answer" LW p 144
• Readings - The Settlers
• Garland, "Under the Lion's Paw" LW pp 70-82
• Cather:
• From O Pioneers! scholarly edition online
• from My Antonia LW 123-130

December 20 - Tuesday

9 am -12 pm:

• Readings - The Westerner:
• Wister, "Enter the Man" LW pp 83-87
• Grey, "Lassister" LW pp 110-119
• Schaefer, Chapter 1 from Shane LW 177-183
• Film - The Cavalry:
• She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

• Reading - The Gold Rush:
• London, "All Gold Canyon" LW 93-109
• Film - Gold Fever:
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

December 21 - Wednesday

9 am -12 pm:

• Film - The Anti-Western:
• The Petrified Forest
• Readings - Redefining the West:
• Sherwood, The Petrified Forest (play)

• Readings - "We were here first..."
• Standing Bear, "Nature" LW pp 145-149
• Waters, "Hopi Ceremonialism" LW pp 184-194
• Momaday, Introduction to Way to Rainy Mountain LW pp 208-213
• Snyder, "Anasazi" LW pp 305-306

January 11 - Wednesday

9 am -12 pm:

• Formal Paper Due
• Readings - Sherman Alexie's "A Drug Called Tradition"
• "A Drug Called Tradition" Reading Questions
• Film - Native American:
• Smoke Signals

• Readings - "And so were we..."
• Valdez, Los Vendidos
• Los Vendidos Reading Questions
• Anaya, "B Traven Is Alive and Well in Cuernavaca" LW pp 291-303
• Chavez, "The Last of the Menu Girls" LW pp 323-344
• Anaya, Bless Me Ultima, pp 1-135 (first half of book)

January 12 - Thursday

9 am -12 pm:

• Anaya, Bless Me Ultima, pp 136-262 (second half of book)

• Film - Three Generations of Chicanos in America
• My Family

January 13 - Friday

9 am -12 pm:

• Film: Blazing Saddles
• Review for Final Exam

•  Final Exam