English 177 - Winter, 2020

Study of an Individual Author

Topic: Claude McKay

Class Information

Instructor: Clover, Joshua
CRN: 77355
Time: MWF 1:10-2:00
Location: 1342 Storer

Description

Claude McKay was an immigrant, a railroad porter, a communist, a gay man, a pivotal figure in black poetry, a novelist, and much more. He contains multitudes. And yet, if you thought single author courses were narrow, wait till you hear about this one! This is a course about a single poem and the 20th century. We're just going to read that one poem. Also some other poems. And essays. And history. And an FBI file. We'll have units on the sonnet and tradition, the Red Summer of 1919, the Harlem Renaissance, black communism, and a prison riot, and then we will get out of there like someone walking away from an explosion in slow motion.

Grading

Attendance is mandatory to receive a grade.
Participation 10%
Reading Notes (4 sets) 20%
Historical notes for long paper 20%
Long Paper 40%
Final Exam 10%
[opportunity for extra credit 5 pts]

Texts

Voices from the Harlem Renaissance, Nathan Huggins
Complete Poems, Claude McKay
Red Summer, Cameron McWhirter