American Literature since 1945
(Spring 2008)
My Initial Ideas
POETRY
Elizabeth Bishop (1222): Introduction; The Fish; The Armadillo; Sestina; In the Waiting Room; One Art
Gwendolyn Brooks (1361): Introduction; kitchenette building; the mother; The White Troops Had Their Orders But the Negroes Looked Like Men; we real cool; The Last Quatrain of the Ballad of Emmett Till
Allen Ginsberg (1414): Introduction; Howl; Footnote to Howl; A Supermarket in California
Sylvia Plath (1475): Introduction; Morning Song; Lady Lazarus; Daddy; Child
Sherman Alexie (1675): Introduction; At Navajo Monument Valley Tribal School; Pawn Shop; Crow Testament; Do Not Go Gentle
FICTION
John Cheever (1232): Introduction; The Swimmer
Jack Kerouac (1366): Introduction; Big Sur -- Chapters 12-14
Toni Morrison (1461): Introduction; Recitatif
Raymond Carver (1556): Introduction; Cathedral
Louise Erdrich (1652): Introduction; Dear John Wayne; I Was Sleeping Where the Black Oaks Move; Grief; Fleur
Jhumpa Lahiri (1681): Introduction; Sexy
Tallying the Votes
FIRST CUT was authors who had no votes either way.
SECOND CUT was authors with only "no" votes.
THIRD CUT was authors with both "yes" and "no" votes.
What remains are authors with only "yes" votes.
Note:
It was shocking how many people either did not read the directions or did not follow them. There were many votes that could not be counted because the authors listed did not fit into this time period. For example:
Hawthorne, Poe
Dickinson, Twain, S. Crane, Chopin, London, Roosevelt
Fitzgerald, Frost, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Cather, R. Wright, Pound, Cummings, Bulosan, Hemingway
Initial Results
POETRY
Sylvia Plath = 4
James Wright = 3
Elizabeth Bishop = 2
Rita Dove = 2
Li-Young Lee = 2
Robert Lowell = 2
FICTION
Ralph Ellison = 3
Jack Kerouac = 3
Arthur Miller = 3
Julia Alvarez = 2
Saul Bellow = 2
Philip Roth = 2
Final Decisions
ASSUMPTIONS
1.) We only have 7 days left, after 2 days with Angela Shannon.
2.) We need a balance of poetry and short fiction (but we've had more short fiction, overall, this semester).
3.) We need a balance of female and male.
4.) We need a balance of races and ethnicities.
POETRY
Sylvia Plath = 4
James Wright = 3
Elizabeth Bishop = 2
Rita Dove = 2
FICTION
Ralph Ellison = 3
Jack Kerouac = 3
Julia Alvarez = 2