Greetings,

As the faculty mentor for this distance learning course, Contemporary Literature, I welcome you. There are several books assigned for this course (listed on the course syllabus below), which I hope will provide you with a fertile reading experience. Besides reading, we will also be doing a lot of writing--some of which will be in electronic format, some in the old-fashioned medium of paper. You will need to get the paper-based projects to me on time, so be sure to consider how long snail mail will take to reach me from where you are--avoid faxing whenever possible, since faxes are not always legible and may get lost on their way into my mailbox at NJIT. My snail mail address is: Dr. Burt Kimmelman, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102.

If you wish to succeed in this course, you will need to adhere strictly to the course schedule by getting your reading and writing assignments done on time. Indeed, you would be smart to start reading ahead of the scheduled class discussions, and as soon as possible to start thinking about your research project that will be due at the end of the term. As for the midterm and final examinations--they will be proctored (again, please consult your course syllabus for their dates).

We will be conducting our group discussions on the Web CT conferencing system, so you will need to have a Web CT account and also to be enrolled in this class’s "conference." To get this account, phone NJIT's Computing Help Desk at 973-596-2900 or go to http://directory.njit.edu/~accts/cgi-bin/new. Once you have the account—or if you already have the account—please contact me at kimmelma@njit.edu and, when you do, be sure to tell me what your account eddress is so I can add you (i.e., so I can get you electronically "registered" in our virtual classroom) to the class list of conferees (otherwise you will not be able to send or receive comments or other texts via Web CT). Please then send a message to the class conference, as soon as possible, to introduce yourself.  During the term of this course, please log on to the Web CT conferencing system by going to http://www.njit.edu/DL/.  You should sign into our on-line conference at least three times a week and respond to the comments and questions that I and/or your classmates have posed.

To get on the system, you can also obtain directions from the Access NJIT Distance Learning Welcome Packet. You may receive more help through Faxline 973-639-1891 or the DL Home Page (www.njit.edu/csd/), or phone the NJIT Computing Help Desk at 973-596-2900.

I look forward to our exchanges, and to our sharing of some literary works that I think you will find enriching and enlightening.

Yours cordially,

Burt Kimmelman
 

REQUIRED TEXTS

Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, 1989.

Erdrich, Louise. Tracks. New York: Harper and Row, 1992.

Morrison, Toni. Beloved. New York: Plume / New American Library, 1987.

Mukherjee, Bharati. Darkness. New York: Fawcett Crest Books, 1985.

Stephens, Michael. The Brooklyn Book of the Dead. Elmwood Park, Illinois: Dalkey Archive, 1994.

Weinberger, Eliot. American Poetry since 1950. New York: Marsilio, 1993.

Literary Resources ( http://eies.njit.edu/~kimmelma/litsources.html )

Documentation Guides ( http://eies.njit.edu/~kimmelma/documentation.html )

Writing Guides ( http://eies.njit.edu/~kimmelma/writing.html )
 
 
 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

* Exams: Two major exams, a midterm and a final, comprehensive in nature, essay in format.
* Quizzes: essay in format.
* Oral reports: The first is to be a brief oral report (or seven hundred word paper, depending on class size), which seeks to situate accurately one of the writers on our syllabus in the context of the post World War II era.  Each student will present a talk on one of the assigned authors; the talk should consist of a biographical discussion AND an interpretive commentary on the author's work.  The second report will be on the end of term research project.  The reports should each last ten minutes.
* Papers: The first is to be a brief (five hundred words), impressionistic paper on the relevance of the literature being studied in the course to your life.  The second will be a lengthy (three to four thousand words), end of term research paper, the topic to be determined in conference with the instructor.  The paper must be fully documented (see below).  For this paper, a minimum of three secondary research sources must be cited; encyclopedias and dictionaries may be used, and of course the textbooks, but these will not be considered legitimate secondary sources for the purpose of this assignment.  Papers that are not sufficiently researched and documented will not receive a passing grade.

 All papers must be word processed on 8 1/2" x 11" paper, double spaced with one inch margins, spell checked, and to the best of one's ability grammar checked.  If on occasion use is made of the ideas or words of someone else in one's writing, then the source(s) of those ideas and/or words must be cited; that is, when appropriate, papers must be fully documented (you must cite sources--using footnotes, endnotes, or parenthetical documentation, which include specific page numbers keyed to particular passages in one's text, and complete bibliographical information).  Of course, as stated already, the final research paper must be fully documented.  PAPERS NOT MEETING ALL OF THESE REQUIREMENTS WILL NOT BE READ AND WILL NOT RECEIVE CREDIT.
 

COURSE SCHEDULE

I: Introduction to the course.
II: Reznikoff, Niedecker, Zukofsky.
III: Olson, Creeley.  (This class will begin at 7 PM.)
IV: Bronk, Oppen.
V: Baraka, O'Hara, Ashbery.  First Paper Due.
VI: Cage, Howe, Johnson.
VII: Auden, Frost, in conjunction with poetry software project (to be explained).
VIII: Midterm Examination.
IX: Mukherjee.
X: Morrison.
XI: Erdrich.
XII: Stephens.
XIII: Cisneros.
XIV: Reports on Research.
XV: Final Examination.  Second Paper Due.
 

COURSE GRADE

Short Paper   5%
End of Term Research Paper   30%
Final Examination  35%
Oral Reports (the first of these may be a short paper)   20%
Midterm Examination   10%