22 August.  Report on The Jungle has been appended to the Upton Sincliar Resources page.

16 August.  Report on The Awakening has been appended to the Kate Chopin Resources Page. 

29 July.  Report on The Grapes of Wrath has been appended to the Steinbeck Resources page.
-- Upton Sinclair has been added to the Resources page, with links to discussion questions and commentary on (as well as teaching suggestions for) The Jungle. 

19 July.  -- Kate Chopin has been added to the Resources page, with links to discussion questions and commentary on (as well as teaching suggestions for) The Awakening. 

11 July.  Report on As I Lay Dying has been appended to the Faulkner Resources page.
--John Steinbeck has been added to the Resources page, with links to discussion questions and commentary on--as well as teaching suggestions for--The Grapes of Wrath. 

8 July.  Report on Look Homeward, Angel has been appended to the Wolfe Resources page.

30 June.  William Faulkner has been added to the Resources page, with links to discussion questions and commentary on As I Lay Dying. 
--Report on Ethan Frome appears at the bottom of the Wharton Resources page.

--Final Paper.  I'll provide more detailed guidelines shortly, but it's not too early to begin thinking about the final 10-12 page paper (standard MLA format--similar to guidelines for final paper in my Rhetoric class) on any four of the eight texts we're reading this summer.  Like your weekly reports, the essay should combine a critical approach with a pedagogical one: i.e., not only highlighting some of your key insights into the novels but (perhaps more importantly) indicating how you might most effectively present these novels to a group of high-school seniors (perhaps in an Advanced Placement class).   Consider what background information (if any) you might provide the students to aid their understanding of each of the works.  Consider the order in which you might assign the works, inviting students to see points of correspondence and/or contrast between and among them.  Consider what areas of discussion might be most fruitful, and what sort of writing projects (critical and/or imaginative in nature) you might assign. Your weekly reports should give you some starting points for the ideas in the final paper--though this essay will, of course, be more formally developed and constructed.  Within the next couple of weeks, we'll set some deadlines so that you'll have time to show me a draft (if you wish) before submitting the final version of the essay. 

25 June.  Thomas Wolfe has been added to the Resources page, with links to Wolfe web sites and discussion questions on Look Homeward, Angel.  As usual, give some consideration to these questions when you prepare your single-spaced, three-to-five-page report (three or four pages for shorter works; four or five pages for longer ones) on Wolfe's novel. 

21 June.  Edith Wharton has been added to the Resources page, with links to Wharton sites and discussion questions on Ethan Frome.  (Give some consideration to these questions when you prepare your report on the novel.)
--Report on Invisible Man appears at the bottom of the Ellison Resources page.  Additional Discussion Questions on Invisible Man have also been added.

16 June.  The Resources page is now open with links to Zora Neale Hurston and to Ralph Ellison. (Student report on Hurston's novel appears at the bottom of the Hurston Resources page.)    

After reading Invisible Man (and before submitting your report on Ellison's novel), please consider the various discussion questions linked to the Ellison page.   Although naturally you're not expected to respond to all of these questions in your report, you may find that some of them help you to focus your own responses and questions.   Because a major concern in this course is the function of the novels as social criticism, in your discussion of themes be sure to consider (1) the particular societies evoked in each novel, and (2) the possible relation of those fictional societies to the real historical and cultural conditions in America. 

Also, consider whether Hurston's novel and Ellison's novel might have any points in common besides the ethnicity of their authors.  Ellison cited Hurston as one of his influences: are such influences obvious in Invisible Man?

4 June.  The Reports page is now open, with some basic advice on the informal reports that I'm asking you to submit each week on our readings.  If you have questions or concerns about these reports, please e-mail me as soon as possible.  From the evening of June 5 to the evening of June 12, I'll be out of town a family mercy mission and may not be free to check my mail until next week.  So, in the meantime, just keep reading, thinking, and taking notes.  Enjoy.

3 June.  Readings for the term have been posted.  (Please let me know if you spot any errors.)  By tomorrow evening (June 4th), guidelines for weekly reports will be posted to (what else) the REPORTS page.