LITERATURE AND JOURNALISM IN AMERICA
Spring 2008

Jacob Lawrence, Playground, Hiroshima
Course Description
Requirements
Calendar of Readings
Web Links
Course Policies

Links to Help You With Your Writing

"Literature and Journalism in America" is an  upper-division English elective which examines the development of mainstream and alternative American journalism from the mid 20th century to the present.  We will examine American nonfiction and news reporting dealing with three areas:  narratives on poverty and urban crime; war and foreign correspondence; and experimental renderings of border zones and transnational urban spaces.

This course is "literary" insofar as it focuses on the aesthetic strategies informing nonfiction narratives with a strong reportorial foundation.  Thus, although we  will acquaint ourselves with mainstream journalistic notions like "the story" or "objectivity"--and pay close attention to the reporting behind news narratives--this is neither a creative writing course, nor a course in "how to be a journalist."  Rather, we'll be developing skills as critical readers of nonfiction, examining  journalism as both a social and narrative practice: social because it involves relationships  between journalists and their subjects, using received strategies of story-gathering, source relationships,  and positioning); narrative because their writing will be examined as a textual matter (through which writers use literary conventions, attempt social or political allegories,  map geographies both physical and cognitive). 

Although this course is open to all majors, students should be experienced readers of narrative  ready to tackle interpretive and theoretical essays alongside these  journalistic texts. Students will be asked to think critically about styles of journalistic representation and also about the truth value of what they read; to think about personal reporting ethics, but also about the "information economies" within news reporting (including writing on war or poverty or migration); to learn about customary expectations from readers, yet also about  alternative modes of journalistic representation.

Course Requirements

Books:

This is a WebCT course, and consequently several of the secondary and theoretical readings will be in the "readings" section of our WebCT site. They have also been placed into a "course reader" which you can buy at the BC bookstore if you'd prefer not to download them from WebCT. Whether you use WebCT texts or our course reader, however, be sure to bring these readings to class on days where they are to be discussed.  In the meantime, the following course texts have been ordered from the BC Bookstore, and will also be on Reserve in O'Neill Library.
  1. Janet Malcolm, The Journalist and the Murderer
  2. Alex Kotlowitz, There Are No Children Here
  3. Joan Didion, Miami
  4. Joan Didion, Salvador 
  5. Anne Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
  6. Michael Herr, Dispatches 
  7. John Hersey, Hiroshima (please be sure to  acquire the edition of this book that includes a final  visit to Hiroshima, in the chapter called "Aftermath")
  8. Mike Davis, City of Quartz

Calendar for Spring 2008

James Nachtwey
Dates denote days by which you should have done the reading. (R) denotes material on reserve in O'Neill Library; (W) means material you can download from WebCT (and which is often in the course reader as well);  (HO) designates in-class handouts.
 
January
Mon. 14      Opening Day:  Introduction to the Course


Prologue:  Writers and Their Subjects

Wed. 16       Lecture:  Reading the News
 Required Reading:  Gaye Tuchman,  "Objectivity as  Strategic Ritual" (W), and Robert Karl Manoff, "Writing the News By Telling the Story" (W);  also recommended: Robert Darnton, "Journalism: All the News that Fits We Print" (W)
and Mary McCarthy, "Settling the Colonel's Hash," in Norm Sims, ed. Literary Journalism in  the 20th Century (R)

Fri. 18      Discussion: William Finnegan "Doubt" (W)
Mon. 21    Martin Luther King  Day
Wed. 23  Discussion:  Finnegan, "Doubt" (2)
Fri.  25  Discussion:  Janet Malcolm, The Journalist and the Murderer

Mon.  28  Malcolm, 2

 Mon. JAN. 28  7 PM  Group Showing of "The Year of Living Dangerously," in O'Neill Media Center

Wed. 30  Workshop/ Discussion:  Joan Didion, "Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream"  A short, ungraded rewrite of Didion's story is lso required; please also read John Schilb's "Deconstructing Didion" (W)

February

Underworld Explorations

Fri. 1  Lecture: Representing the Underclass
 Recommended Reading: Allen Cary-Webb, "Representing the Homeless" (W), and Robin D.G. Kelley, Chapter 1 of Yo Mama's
Disfunktiional! (W)
Side-Bar:  The U.S. Census Bureau on Poverty in the U.S.  Click Here
Side-Bar:  Health and Human Services on Poverty Thresholds.  Click Here.


Mon. 4    Discussion: Panel #1   Kotlowitz, There Are No Children Here
Wed. 6  Discussion:  Kotlowitz (2)       
Fri.  8 Discussion:  Kotlowitz (3)



Mon. 11  Discussion Panel #2:   Finnegan, "Work Boy"    (W)  This text must be downloaded from WebCT
Wed. 13 Discussion:   Work Boy (2)  
Fri.    15     Discussion:  Work Boy (3)    
 

Border Crossings (1): War Correspondence

Mon. 18  Lecture: Cultural "Correspondence"    

Required Background Reading: Daniel Hallin, "Cartography, Community, and the Cold War" (W) and in Reading the News (R); the Mark Pedelty reading from War Stories (W).

Wed. 20   Discussion: John Hersey, Hiroshima (1)     Ted Conover Lecture This Evening
Fri. 22   Discussion:  Hersey (2)

Mon. 25  Discussion: Hersey (3) "The Aftermath"
Wed. 27  Lecture:   Mapping the "Correspondent" / Vietnam and Beyond
Fri 29      No Class, because of Ted Conover Lecture)  

Spring Vacation

Mon. 10  Prologue:   Michael Herr, Dispatches  
Wed. 12  Discussion, Herr (2)
Fri. 14   Discussion: Herr (3)

Mon. 17:  Discussion Panel 3, a Debate: Margaret Randall, "The Women in Olive Green" (W) and "Notes Towards Reclaiming" (W)
Wed. 19   Discussion: Randall -2-
Fri. 21  No Class: Good Friday

Mon. 24 No Class Easter Monday

III.  Border Crossings (2): Two Latin Capital(s)

Wed. 26 Panel: Didion, Salvador  -1
Fri. 28   Didion, Salvador (2)


Mon 31  Didion, Salvador (3)
Wed. April 2Discussion Panel 4:  Didion, Miami
Fri. 4    Discussion:  Didion, Miami  (2)

 Mon. 7  Discussion: Didion, Miami (3)

Wed. 9  Lecture: No Fooling: Edge Cities/ Vietnam in the Streets
Fri. 11 Discussion: Panel #5 : Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You  -1-


Mon. 14 Fadiman  -2-
Wed. 16   Fadiman  -3-
Fri. 18  Workshop/Study Panel #6 Mike Davis, City of Quartz (The archaeology of the First Chapters)  
 

Mon. 21      Patriot's Day:  No Classes
Wed. 23   Davis (2):  Power Lines  
Fri. 25     No Class:  Instead, I will have open hours for conferences on your papers.
 
Mon. 28 Discussion:  Davis (3):  Fortress LA
Wed. 30  LAST CLASS DAY     Final Paper Due

Note:  the final chapter of City of Quartz, "The Junkyard of Dreams," will be required for the final exam.


  

Some Useful Links in American Journalism that May Help your Paper Writing:

Course Policies:

1.    Class attendance is required.  For this course, you are allowed three cuts  (hereby defined as an "unexcused absence") without penalty.  But excessive absence and tardiness can lower your overall course grade--and, in some cases, be grounds for failing the course altogether.  If there is a  good reason why you have had to miss a class, please don't hesitate  to tell me, and for illness, just bring me a signed medical slip and your absence won't be counted.   After the first weeks, we'll be using an attendance sheet sign-in to save time.  Repeated tardiness is also disruptive of the class, and will "add up" to absences over time.

2.      Class participation will account for about 20% of your grade.  Generally, I try to use your class participation as a measure of how well you have read and understood the assignments.  But only in cases of excessive absence or tardiness can your class participation grade  "pull down" your final grade average.  On the other hand, if your participation reflects strong reading skills, consideration for others' viewpoints,  and consistent contributions to the flow of discussion, your  class "average" from your papers can easily be boosted at  the close of the semester--indeed, well beyond the weight of this 20%  guideline.  Days on which you "kick off" class or guide discussion will not be graded on the spot, but added into your overall in-class performance.

3.      When you submit a paper, it should be neatly typed or word- processed and double-spaced, preferably on both sides of the  paper so that we can save a few trees.  In addition, you are required  to keep either a xerox or carbon copy.  That way, if your paper  is lost, you can simply re-submit your copy.  I'm sorry to say that I cannot accept email submissions without advance permission. Papers are submitted when they arrive in hard copy.

 4.      Papers are due on the assigned dates.  My rule is that I allow  24 hours leeway without penalty; after that, you will be penalized  about 1/3 grade for every part of 24 hours the paper is late.   The idea of this "leeway" period is that you should never miss  a class in order to type a paper; come to class, and turn the  paper in later.  Any paper submitted after 5 days will automatically be assigned an "F."

5.    Everyone should feel that office hours are for "hashing out" class discussions, lectures, and the progress of the course  generally.  If you feel confused, bored, unchallenged, or otherwise distressed, please come see me.  If my office hours don't fit  your schedule, just talk to me in class about setting up another  time. Small groups are welcome, and most welcome are discussions about the ideas of the course. I'm also open to conversations on email, but try to avoid this as a substitute for a face-to-face conference, particularly about planning or following up on your papers.  Given the sheer volume of messages and the differences between your schedule and mine, I also can't respond to late-night emails until the next day. And "But I left a message on your voice mail" isn't an excuse for anything, in your social life or mine  (except for class absences you anticipate. In that case, I appreciate the advance notice).
 

6.  Boston College values the academic integrity of its faculty and its students.   It should go without saying, simply as a matter of fairness to everyone who participates in this class, that I take such matters quite seriously. All students are required to familiarize themselves with the university guidelines on integrity at the start of the course. To see those guidelines, click here.  And if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask me for clarification, even if you are right in the middle of an assignment.  Violations of academic integrity are adjudicated according to the guidelines and the academic integrity committee of your school. If you are found in violation, penalties may include a failing grade as well as possible suspension, probation, or expulsion, depending on the seriousness and circumstances of the violation.

7.    This course emphasizes improving your writing.  To that end, I use a "correction guide" adapted from a handbook by Diana Hacker--a sheet which I will also hand out (though see the link below).   If you're confusedby some of the symbols I use in the margins to correct your papers, you can also consult Hacker (which can also be bought in the Bookstore).  It goes without saying I would also be happy to discuss your writing with you in conference.

WRITING LINKS THAT ARE INTENDED TO HELP YOU WITH YOUR PAPERS

Six Conventions It's Good to Know for College Papers   [Download the PDF]

A Few Tips on Effective Quotation   [Download the PDF]

Click Here to see the Correction Code Used on Your Papers
Never Learned How to Punctuate?  Read Russell Baker's Advice    [ Download the Pdf]

The Simplified MLA Citation System You Should Use for Documenting Your Paper   [Download the PDF]

Alas, My own Pet Peeves:  Ten Suggestions to Improve Your Writing   [Download the PDF]

If you have any comments on this page, please send them to: wilsonc@bc.edu .