Paper 2 and Precis Assignments

The assignment pages for Paper 2 and the precis assignment are available at our main site: http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl494/index.html . Click on Assignments and then on the appropriate link.

Page with songs and lecture materials

The page with all your songs included is available here:
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl494/songs.htm

The lecture materials (Harlem Renaissance/Jazz Age themes) are here:
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/engl494/harlemren.htm

I've had your response pages copied for the class and will give everyone a copy tomorrow in class. Also, before we discuss more poetry and the narratives by McKay, Johnson, Fisher, and Hughes, we'll spend some time analyzing cover art and sheet music from the era from some examples I'll bring in.

Dr. Campbell

Assignments, including a new (short) written assignment

As mentioned in class today, on Thursday in class you'll be able to see the silent film _The Plastic Age_. Attendance will be taken. Those who attend will be credited with (1) attendance for the day, which can wipe out an absence, and (2) a quiz grade of 10/10 to replace any lower quiz grade.

Also, as I mentioned at the end of class, I would like each of you to find a song from the 1920s (online is fine; see links below) and listen to it carefully. I'll be asking each of you about your song during our class on 10/16.

I would like you to write a typed paragraph or two about this song (not more than about 300 words or 1 1/2 double-spaced pages) and bring that written work to class on Tuesday to turn in. You will receive credit for this assignment, but it will not receive a letter grade.

You should plan to address at least some of these questions:

1. Note the title of the song, the principal musician, when (if you can
tell) it was recorded, and so on. Indicate the site where you found it, if you found it online, so that we might be able to listen to it in class.
2. What genre (jazz, blues, ragtime, popular, novelty, dance music, etc.) do you think this song belongs to? Is it a love song, a protest song, a lament, or something else?
3. What do the lyrics and music tell you? What is the song trying to convey thematically? What story is it telling? How does it fit into a 1920s context, or what does it reveal about 1920s culture? Does it make any allusions to 1920s themes or culture (like the Arrow Collar man or other icons)?
4. Why did you choose this song instead of another one? What did you find compelling or appealing about it?

You can write about this song for your blog assignment this week, if you like, and print out your blog post to turn in for this assignment. You can also write about something else (like _The Public Enemy_) for your blog post and just bring your written response to the song.

You can find some songs here:

http://www.redhotjazz.com
http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/1920m.html
http://www.dismuke.org

Assignments for 10/9

By now, you should have received a confirmation e-mail from me if I received your paper. If you didn't receive the e-mail, it's because I didn't receive your paper.

Tomorrow's class will have reports by class members first. We'll then view the conclusion to The Public Enemy and discuss the film. Be sure to bring your notes from the other day when we saw the movie. I will be asking you primarily about (1) the film's representation of the 1920s and (2) whether you saw any Code violations (from the handout the other day, available on elearning.wsu.edu).

Here are our readings; I will be playing the songs for you, so you don't need to listen to them ahead of time.

Lewis, introduction to The Harlem Renaissance Reader (xiii-xli)
Joel A. Rogers, "Jazz at Home" HRR 52-57
Sterling Brown, "Ma Rainey" HRR 232-234
Ma Rainey, "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and other songs
Bessie Smith, "St. Louis Blues" (song)
Langston Hughes, "The Weary Blues" HRR 260-261;
Louis Armstrong, "Weary Blues" (song)
Gwendolyn Bennett, "Song" HRR 221-222