ENGL 85
American Novel
Description: Lecture, three hours; discussion, one hour. Enforced requisite: satisfaction of Entry-Level Writing requirement. Not open for credit to English majors or students with credit for any courses in 170 series. Development, with emphasis on form, of American novel from its beginning to present day. Includes works of such novelists as Hawthorne, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Ellison, and Morrison. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Fall 2022 - Highly recommend taking this class as a GE--if you are willing to put in the work. I don't consider myself the best writer, but I don't think you could go into this class as someone who hates writing. This class definitely wasn't easy, but Mott set it up to work in our favor. First off, love Mott! He has great energy, is hilarious, and was also clear and knowledgeable about everything he did. His office hours were also very helpful; I went in with my essay ideas and he literally told me how I should change it and gave me pieces of evidence he thought would be useful. Attendance at lectures isn't mandatory, but very helpful. The lectures were just time to do group analysis on all the books and I used those to guide my analysis for my essays. It made them A LOT easier. We read 4 books: Pudd'nhead Wilson, Passing, Under the Feet of Jesus, and The Magic Fish. All of them were really interesting to me. I read all of them and did relatively in the class, but I think you could probably get away with only reading 2 or 3 of them since the essays don't cover every single one. I had Michael Meagher as my TA, and he was also really helpful in office hours. Our discussions were mostly relevant to helping us write those essays too. Breakdown of the class: Section grade/passage explications 30% - discussion is mandatory but so easy WAS & Thesis work 20% - in class work, also easy Close Reading Essay (single novel) 15% - pretty hard, but office hours and group work saved me Compare & Contrast Essay (2 novels) 15% - even harder, but same as above Archival project 20% - pretty easy; ~ 3 minute presentation on an object from one of the books we read
Fall 2022 - Highly recommend taking this class as a GE--if you are willing to put in the work. I don't consider myself the best writer, but I don't think you could go into this class as someone who hates writing. This class definitely wasn't easy, but Mott set it up to work in our favor. First off, love Mott! He has great energy, is hilarious, and was also clear and knowledgeable about everything he did. His office hours were also very helpful; I went in with my essay ideas and he literally told me how I should change it and gave me pieces of evidence he thought would be useful. Attendance at lectures isn't mandatory, but very helpful. The lectures were just time to do group analysis on all the books and I used those to guide my analysis for my essays. It made them A LOT easier. We read 4 books: Pudd'nhead Wilson, Passing, Under the Feet of Jesus, and The Magic Fish. All of them were really interesting to me. I read all of them and did relatively in the class, but I think you could probably get away with only reading 2 or 3 of them since the essays don't cover every single one. I had Michael Meagher as my TA, and he was also really helpful in office hours. Our discussions were mostly relevant to helping us write those essays too. Breakdown of the class: Section grade/passage explications 30% - discussion is mandatory but so easy WAS & Thesis work 20% - in class work, also easy Close Reading Essay (single novel) 15% - pretty hard, but office hours and group work saved me Compare & Contrast Essay (2 novels) 15% - even harder, but same as above Archival project 20% - pretty easy; ~ 3 minute presentation on an object from one of the books we read
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