Writing and Reading Poetry

Welcome to English 656

Class Portfolio

Week 14: Discussion of completed research papers (3-5 minutes each): methods

and findings. Reflections on contemporary American fiction.

Note: To provide time for completion of research paper, Aloft has been

dropped from the syllabus -- see revised syllabus.

Week 13: Interpreter of Maladies disussed.

Week 12: The Things they Carried discussed.

Week 11: No class. Conferences scheduled.

Weeks 9 & 10: Discussion of Libra. NOTE: for April 10th class prepare a 3-5 minute oral presentation (with accompanying handouts) on the draft of your RP opening page. Indicate your RP's ropic, theme, pattern of argument and use of secondary sources.

Week 8: Discussion of Beloved. CP & RP thesis & bibliography.

Week 7: Continue discussion of Everything that Rise Must Converge & the following stories in Carver's Cathedral: "Feathers," "Chef's House," "Preservation," "A Small, Good Thing," "Careful," "Where I'm Calling From," "Fever," & "Cathedral."

Week 6: Everything that Rise Must Converge discussed. RP topics due

Week 5: Rabbit, Run discussed. Paper #1 due.

Week 4: Goodbye, Columbus discussed.

Week 3: Lolita & Seize the Day discussed. Post CP. Paper topics & notes in "Assignments." NOTE: Paper #1 due February 28th.

Week 2: Lolita discussed. Please post BP (see "Syllabus"), plus brief self-description and picture in "Student Profiles."

Week 1: Please familiarize yoursellf with the class website. (See instructions in "Resources.") Be sure the entry for your name is current in "Student Profiles." (If you wish to use a different email address, please send me an email, at shaun.oconnell@umb.edu, telling me what it is and I will change your entry.) Go to "Writing Room" and make a brief entry (call it "Profile"), telling me and the rest of the class something about yourself. (You may also post a picture.) Then check under "Student Profiles" or "Class Portfolio" to be sure your entry is there. (If it is not, please let me know. Students who have had classes with me before may find that their entry for this class gets sent to one of our previous classes. If this happens, let me know and I'll change your password for this class.) The syllabus is available in "Syllabus." Handouts are available in "Resources."

EN656: Contemporary American Fiction This course examines significant works of American fiction written in the last half-century, a period of dramatic changes in American manners and values, a period of consolidation and improvisation in American fiction. These works, in form and substance, reflect America's debate between those who see "good in the old ways" and those who try to "make it new.” Emphasis upon both continuity and experimentation, reflected in a range of fictional voices, styles, forms and visions. These works demonstrate the variety and vitality of contemporary American fiction. In addition to these readings, this course examines relevant authorial comments and critical approaches from the 1950s to the present, writings which contextualize contemporary American fiction. Authors include Nabokov, Bellow, Roth, Updike, F. O’Connor, Morrison, DeLillo, Lahiri & Lee.