THE SOUTHERN EXPERIENCE IN 20TH CENTURY AMERICAN FICTION
INSTRUCTOR: ILDIKÓ LIMPÁR
EMAIL: [email protected]
COURSE SCHEDULE:
1.
Sept.12
2
Sept. 19
Introduction
3
Sept. 26
William Faulkner: “A Rose for Emily”
Cormac McCarthy: “Wake for Susan”
4
Oct. 3
Flannery O’Connor: “A Late Encounter with the Enemy”
*John William Corrington: “Reunion”
5
Oct. 10
*William Humphrey: “A Fresh Snow”
*Edward J. Cabbell: “The Soul’s Sting”
6
Oct. 17.
Flannery O’Connor: “The River”
Eudora Welty: “Death of the Travelling Salesman”
7
Oct. 24
8
Oct. 31
9
Nov. 07
10
Nov. 14
11
Nov. 21
Carson McCullers: The Ballad of the Sad Café
12
Nov. 28
Eudora Welty: “Where is the Voice Coming from?”
*George Garrett: “Texarcana was a Crazy Town”
13
Dec. 05
14
Dec. 12
Flannery O’Connor: “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
Flannery O’Connor: “The Life You Save May Be Your Own”
Ralph Ellison: “Battle Royal”
Alice Walker: Everday Use
Autumn Break
William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury. Part I-II.
William Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury. Part III-IV.
Katherine Anne Porter: “The Grave”
Eudora Welty: “Petrified Man”
Evaluation
ASSIGNMENTS:
 Reading the assigned texts at home;
 Coming to class with the texts and your notes; three absences are tolerated;
 Active participation in class;
 Writing occasional quizzes at the beginning of the classes;

Handing in 2 mini essays;

Handing in an end-term seminar paper;
ESSAY REQUIREMENTS:

Topics: choose 1-2 sentences that you find especially significant in the text in the context of the
Southern experience. Write about the significance of the sentences and the theme they are more
closely connected to.

Length: Using double space, Times New Roman character, 12 pts, normal margins of 2 cms; the
mini essays should be about 2 pages long, while the seminar paper should be about 4-5 pages long.

Research and formal requirements: The mini essays require no secondary literature (but if you do
use any, indicate them properly here, as well). The seminar paper should have at least three English
language scholarly secondary sources. (You are encouraged to use JSTOR and Project MUSE data
bases, which are freely available from on campus.) Your sources must be acknowledged properly.
(Preferred style: MLA, but all other systematically used citation systems are accepted, too; if you
use an internet source, make sure you give the exact link to the source, too.) Plagiarism is not
tolerated and results in automatic failure. Do not forget to cite your primary sources properly, too.

Deadlines: All essays (shorter and longer ones alike) must be about a piece that we discuss in class.
You may write a comparative seminar paper on two pieces if you would like to. The essays (shorter
and longer ones alike) should be handed in before the discussions of the pieces you have written
about. If you may not be present in the class where we discuss the piece you have written about,
you may hand in your essay the next time you turn up, without any negative consequences. Final
deadline to hand in either your last mini essay or your seminar paper: November 28.

Manner of handing in: You need to hand in your written assignments as a printed document.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON ACCESSING TEXTS:

Most materials are easily available online, but I will create a closed Facebook group so as I may
effectively share the kind of reading material that is harder to access otherwise (marked with an
asterisk in your schedule). You may also use this group for sharing information and discussing
ideas relating to the seminar, as well as uploading reading materials. In order to join the Facebook
group, mark me as friend on FB, and I will let you in the group. (Then you can “unfriend” me in
case you don't really want to meet me on FB – no offense :-) ).
MARKING DEPENDS ON:

short written homework and class work (50%) and end term paper (50%). Please note that if the
long essay does not meet the basic requirements either because of language quality or because
of plagiarism, you may not receive a passing mark for the course.