Syllabus
The Travel Habit: On the Road in the Thirties
Gallatin School, NYU
Fall 2009
K20.1558
TR 11 - 12:15 (September 8–October 22)
715 Broadway, room 601
Steve Hutkins
REQUIRED TEXTS
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John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath (Penguin Non-Classics)
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Nathanael West, A Cool Million (Farrar, Straus)
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Tom Kromer, Waiting for Nothing (University of Georgia)
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Various articles and excerpts, online
ASSIGNMENTS
(for details, see the Assignment page)
| DATE | READING | POST TAG |
| Week 1: On the Road in the 30s | ||
| Tues., Sept. 8 | Introduction | |
| Tues., Sept. 10 | Setting off: In search of America: Selections from Rorty, Asch, Pyle, and others |
1. Setting Off |
| Week 2: Migrants | ||
| Tues., Sept. 15 |
Grapes of Wrath, chapters 1 - 16 |
2. Grapes of Wrath (1) |
| Thurs., Sept. 17 |
Grapes of Wrath, |
3. Grapes of Wrath (2) |
| Week 3: Writers | ||
| Tues., Sept. 22 |
Grapes of Wrath, chapters 21 - end |
4. Grapes of Wrath (3) |
| Thurs., Sept. 24 |
Writers on the Road: Selections from Adamic, Asch, Anderson, Pyle, and Caldwell |
5. Writers on the Road |
| Week 4: Writers, Photographers, and Novelists | ||
| Tues., Sept. 29 |
Writers & Photographers on the road: Selections from Lange & Taylor, Agee & Evans, Caldwell & Bourke-White |
6. Words & Images |
| Thurs., Oct. 1 |
Down & Out in Fiction: Selections from Conroy, The Disinherited; Algren, Somebody in Boots; Boxcar Bertha; Guthrie, Bound for Glory |
7. Travel novels |
| Week 5: Vagrants | ||
| Tues., Oct. 6 |
Waiting for Nothing |
8. Waiting for Nothing |
| Thurs., Oct. 8 |
Waiting for Nothing |
9. Open topic |
| Week 6: Innocents & Tourists | ||
| Tues., Oct. 13 | A Cool Million | 10. Cool Million |
| Thurs., Oct. 15 | Tourism in the 30s | 11. Tourism |
| Week 7: America discovers itself | ||
| Tues., Oct. 20 | The WPA Guides | 12. WPA Guides |
| Thurs., Oct. 22 | Conclusion | |
REQUIREMENTS
1. In class: attendance, participation, quizzes, etc. (20% of final grade)
2. Twelve blog posts, approx. 400 words each (60%)
3. Twelve comments on other posts, approx. 100 words each (20%)
CONTACT
Office: 715 Broadway, room 608
Phone: 998-7361
E-mail: ssh1@nyu.edu
Course website: www.placestudies.com
Office Hours: Tues. and Thurs., 9:30 – 11, 3:30 – 5:00; also, 12:30 - 2 and 5 - 6, by appointment only.
POLICIES
Deadlines
The blog posts are due the night before a class day (i.e., on Monday and Wednesday night), so there's time to read them over before class. The comments on other people's posts should be done with a day or two of the original post. (These are important deadlines, and the website makes it easy to track them.)
Plagiarism
In writing your posts, you are encouraged to copy and paste quotations from scholarly articles and other websites, but it is extremely important that you cite your source (author's name or title of the piece) and provide a link to it. The blog posts are a form of academic writing, and plagiarism is a serious violation of the rules of academic integrity.
Attendance
The class is a discussion seminar, so attendance is very important. One or two absences are fine, but more than that will affect the final grade (with the exception of illnesses). It is not necessary to notify the instructor about your absences, unless you are having issues that you'd like to discuss.
Swine flu
The university asks faculty to be as flexible as possible with absences and assignment problems that arise due to the flu. If you think you have the flu, do not come to class. If you come to class visibly ill, you will be asked to return home or to your residence hall. If you are concerned about your illness, call the NYU Student Health Center at 212-443-1000.
