“Mark Twain’s
Syllabus and Survival Guide
History
498 – Spring 2018
Tuesdays,
7:00-9:45 pm, Sierra Hall 288
Instructor
Dr.
Thomas W. Devine
Office
Hours:
Sierra Tower 624, Tuesday, Thursday 11:00 am -12:00 pm and by appointment gladly
given. Phone: (818) 677-3550 E-mail: tom.devine@csun.edu
Readings
The following books are at the Matador
Bookstore. All other readings will be available on the web syllabus.
- Mark Twain,
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
- Mark Twain,
A Connecticut Yankee in King
Arthur’s Court
- Mark Twain,
Puddn’head
- Mark Twain, The
Great Short Works of Mark Twain
Requirements
& Grading
Class Participation 10%
Reading Quizzes 20%
Weekly
Short Writing Assignments 25%
Midterm
Examination [April 4] 20%
Final Examination [May 16] 25%
Spirit of the Course
More
than one hundred years after his death, Mark Twain remains one of the nation’s most
renowned authors and celebrities. In many ways, Twain the cultural icon has
transcended Samuel Clemens the writer to become a timeless figure in American
lore. Decked out in his trademark white suit, Twain can be found today greeting
visitors at Disney’s Epcot Center or selling Kentucky bourbon from billboards
along the highway. He even inhabits the future, having once shared the bridge
with Stark Trek’s Captain Picard in the early 24th century. In this
class, however, we will ground Twain and his work in their historical context,
for Twain was also very much a man of his time whose social commentary provides
revealing insights into the tumultuous years of what he himself dubbed “The
Gilded Age.” In both works of fiction and non-fiction, Twain proved himself a
keen observer and, late in life, an acute critic of American society. Few issues of the day escaped his attention –
political corruption, militarism, industrialization, technological advances,
racial strife, imperialism, religious hypocrisy, false patriotism, and the
growing inequality of American society, to name but a few that we will explore
over the course of the semester.
In
taking up the subject of “Mark Twain’s
This
course, along with your 497, is the capstone of your academic experience in
college. Most of you will not have the
opportunity to engage in this kind of exercise again. Make the most of it by
giving the course your full effort and completing the reading and written
assignments. Believe it or not, in later
years you’ll appreciate that you did.
Explanation of Requirements
Class Participation
The class
will be conducted in a seminar format and therefore will emphasize student
interaction and discussion. Our meetings will be conversations – free, open, and
informal exchanges of ideas based on the assigned reading – and I expect
everyone to take an active part. I will do my best to insure each student has
ample opportunity to contribute, but, ultimately, it will be up
to you to make certain that you remain an active participant rather than a
passive observer. Missing class will hurt your participation grade. Missing more than four classes will put you in jeopardy of failing the
class even if you turn in all of the written assignments. You will find that the
key to success in this class is attending every session and participating in
the discussion. If you do those two things, everything else will become easier.
Reading Quizzes
There will be several reading quizzes throughout
the semester. The quizzes will provide an incentive (and a reward) for
completing the reading. If you have done all the reading – or even most of it –
you should have no difficulty doing well on the quizzes. A high quiz average
can significantly improve your overall grade. On the other hand, if you don’t
keep up with the reading, you can end up with very low quiz scores that will
sink your grade even if you do well on the midterm and final exam.
Weekly Writing Assignments
In order to help you get the most out of the
reading and to prepare you to discuss it in class, there will be short writing
assignments each week that you will complete as you do the reading. These will
be collected in class. Assignments not turned in will count as a zero.
Midterm and Final Examinations
The Midterm and Final Examinations will be
essay-based and focus on themes emphasized throughout the course. I will provide a study guide that will help
you prepare. You are
responsible for bringing an unmarked
blue book to each exam.
Surviving History 498…
Attendance
Since this class meets only once a week and its
success depends on active student participation, it is important – and it is
expected – that you will be at every session. I do take attendance before and after the break. Do not leave at the break and expect to be
credited with having attended the entire class. You cannot participate when you are not
present, so each absence after the first absence or partial absence will lower
your participation grade.
Completion of Assigned
There’s no getting around it – this class will
require extensive reading. But, as a senior seminar, it is supposed to. To do
well in this course, you will need to complete the reading, but you will also
need to have given it some thought. Read
with a pencil in hand – take notes in the margins. Record terms that are unfamiliar to you or
concepts that you don’t understand, points that you find interesting or
surprising, arguments with which you strongly agree or disagree, or ideas that
connect to things we’ve talked about in previous classes. Also, since we will
be reading a lot of fiction, highlight or mark passages that you find
particularly revealing or significant. If I provide study questions, print
them, jot down your answers, and bring them to class. Frame your own questions
when you come across something you don’t fully understand. Finally, read smart
by managing your time effectively – particularly with the non-Twain material,
don’t read every single word of an article’s first few pages and nothing
thereafter because you ran out of time. If you catch the argument the author is
making, don’t sweat all the details or supporting examples – skim over them and
get on to the next major point. It is more important to have gotten the gist of
an entire article or essay than to master every aspect of the first one-third
of it.
Common Courtesy
You are at a university among professional people
so you should try to act like you belong here. Do not embarrass yourself by
behaving badly. Please turn off and put away all cell phones and other
electronic gadgets while you are in class. Arrive on time and do not walk out
in the middle of class unless it is an emergency or you have spoken to me about
it ahead of time. In short, act courteously and professionally. Try to show
some class. It’s part of being an educated person.
Academic Honesty
Do not lie to me about why you missed class or
failed to turn in an assignment. It is unnecessary and it insults my intelligence.
Do not cheat on the quizzes or exams. By this point you should realize, you’re
only cheating yourself. Do not plagiarize from written sources or from the web.
Since plagiarism is always
obvious and easily caught (I know how to use Google too), it is better to hand
in your own work and get a C than someone else’s and get an F. Any and all
plagiarized assignments will receive a grade of zero. If you are unsure what
plagiarism is, please consult with me BEFORE you hand in an
assignment.
Problems
I appreciate that many CSUN students are stretching
themselves quite thin, often working full time while taking classes. If you are feeling overwhelmed, find yourself
falling behind, or are having any problems outside of class that are adversely
affecting your performance in class, either come to see me or send an email as
soon as a problem arises and we can work something out. Do not wait until the
end of the semester when it will be too late. I am more than willing to work
with you to insure you “survive,” but I need to know you are having
difficulties. If you are struggling academically, I will gladly give you extra
help. As long as you keep me up to speed, you will find I am a very empathetic,
even reasonable person.
Schedule of Topics &
Assignments
(The reading
assignment listed for each day should be completed BEFORE you arrive at class.)
24 Jan. Introduction: An
explanation of course objectives, mechanics, and procedures.
Film: Mark Twain (The American
Experience)
31 Jan. “Who is White? Who is Black? And who decides?” – The Social Construction
of Race
Reading:
Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson
Video: Nightline,
“The Story of Wayne Joseph”
7 Feb. Race and Honor:
Twain’s Indirect Critique of Southern Society
QUIZ ON PUDD’NHEAD
WILSON
Reading: Shelly
Fisher Fishkin. “The Tales He Couldn’t Tell”
Henry
Nash Smith, “Pudd’nhead Wilson as Criticism of the Dominant
Culture”
Read at least
two of the contemporary reviews of Pudd’nhead Wilson
available HERE
14 Feb. Satire, Irony,
and Social Criticism in Twain’s Huckleberry
Finn
Reading: Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn
[Read the first half of the book.]
21 Feb. Race, Racism, and Reconstruction in Twain’s Huckleberry Finn
QUIZ
ON HUCKLEBERRY FINN
Reading: Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn
[Finish the book.]
Mark Twain, “A True Story”
David L. Smith,
“Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse,” 103-120
Gladys Carmen
Bellamy, “A Satire on American Institutions,” pp. 95-104
Jay
Martin, “American Civilization Threatens to Destroy Huck,” pp. 105-110
28 Feb. “Church, State, Technology, and the Connecticut Yankee” – Themes and
Character in Twain’s Connecticut Yankee
Reading: Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, Chapters 1-25
7 Mar. Social Criticism in Twain’s Connecticut
Yankee
QUIZ
ON CONNECTICUT YANKEE
Reading:
Mark Twain, A Connecticut Yankee
in King Arthur’s Court, Chapters 26-end
14 Mar. “Hank Morgan:
Jeffersonian Democrat or Ruthless Dictator?” – Conflicting Interpretations of
Twain’s Connecticut Yankee
21 Mar. SPRING BREAK
28 Mar. “Always Let your
Conscience be your Guide”: Twain and Human Nature
QUIZ
ON ASSIGNED SHORT STORIES
Reading: Mark
Twain, “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg”
Mark
Twain, “The Facts Concerning the Recent Carnival of Crime in Connecticut”
Mark
Twain, “The Story of the Bad Little Boy”
Mark
Twain, “Cornpone Opinions”
Clinton S. Burhans,
Jr., “The Sober Affirmation of Mark’s Twain’s Hadleyburg”
Mary E. Rucker,
“Moralism and Determinism in ‘The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg”
4 Apr. MIDTERM
11 Apr. Travelin’ Twain:
An American Views the World
QUIZ ON INNOCENTS
ABROAD
Reading:
Mark Twain, Innocents Abroad, Chapters 17-31
18 Apr. Late Twain:
Dystopian Visions
QUIZ ON “MYSTERIOUS STRANGER” AND “WHAT IS
MAN?”
Reading: Mark Twain, “The Mysterious Stranger”
Mark Twain, “What is Man?”
25 Apr. Twain and the
Hereafter: God, Man, and Heaven
QUIZ ON “CAPTAIN STORMFIELD”
Reading: Mark Twain, “Captain Stormfield’s Visit to Heaven”
Appendix to
“Captain Stormfield”
2 May “Savages All”: Twain and
Western Imperialism
QUIZ ON IMPERIALISM READINGS
Reading:
Jim
Zwick, “Mark Twain and Imperialism”
Mark
Twain, “Our Fellow Savages of the Sandwich Islands”
Mark Twain, “To
the Person Sitting in Darkness”
Mark
Twain, “Comments on the Moro Massacre”
9 May The Best of the
Rest… Clippings from “Late” Twain
Reading: Mark Twain, “The
United States of Lyncherdom”
Mark
Twain, “My First Lie and How I Got Out of It”
Mark
Twain, “As Regards Patriotism”
Mark
Twain, “Three Thousand Years Among the Microbes”
16 May FINAL
EXAMINATION