English 350, Sections 4 & 9 Dr. C. Wooton
Modern Novel Spring 2002

Texts:

Joseph Conrad, Heart of Darkness
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Ken Kesey, One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Tim O’Brien, The Things They Carried
Milan Kundera, The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Dana Gioia and R. S. Gwynn, Eds., The Longman Anthology of
Short Fiction: Stories and Authors in Context (Noted
Below as SF)

Week: Reading Assignment:

Apr. 3, 5 Intro to Modern Literature; Joseph Conrad

Apr. 8, 10, 12 Heart of Darkness

Apr. 15, 17, 19 S. Crane, "The Open Boat," SF, 291-308;
W. Faulkner, "Barn Burning," SF, 324-345;
Their Eyes Were Watching God

Apr. 22, 24, 26 Their Eyes Were Watching God; James
Baldwin, "Sonny’s Blues," SF, 73-99;
Alice Walker, "Everyday Use," SF, 924-933

Apr. 29,
May 1, 3 Test; One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

May 6, 8, 10 One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest

May 13, 15, 17 Katherine Ann Porter, "The Jilting of
Granny Weatherall," SF, 834-841;
Flannery O’Connor, " A Good Man Is Hard
To Find," SF, 764-776; The Things They Carried

May 20, 22, 24 The Things They Carried; TEST

May 27, 29, 31 Monday Holiday; The Unbearable Lightness
Of Being

June 3, 5, 7 The Unbearable Lightness of Being

NOTES:

1. Before you even start the course, note that the final examination is scheduled for the last day of exams, Friday, June 14th. DO NOT make travel plans, family plans, or work plans that make you believe you will need to ask for an earlier exam date. No one will be excused from the final exam to be given at the assigned time. If this doesn’t fit with your plans, you might consider dropping the course now.

2. The syllabus is a flexible guide. It obviously is not carved in stone. There is a lot of reading assigned, and I will expect you to read the novels and stories before we talk about them in class.

3. Scheduled unit tests may be made-up only if you have a written excuse for an absence on account of official university business. Job interviews, recreational trips, family reunions, spring triathlons, etc., are not acceptable reasons for missing a test.

4. Students enrolled in the large lecture section (9) will NOT have an opportunity to write for the GWR. Students in the smaller section (4)will have two opportunities, both of them after mid-term.

5. All students need to activate their Cal Poly email accounts so that I can broadcast notes, questions, messages to the class. I will not send separate messages to anyone using an off-campus email address.

6. My office: FOB 47-36A

Office Hours: MWF 11-12; MW 3-3:30

Office Phone: 756-1264

Email: cwooton@calpoly.edu

Website: cla.calpoly.edu/~cwooton