Professor Maureen Daly Goggin                                         Office Hours:     M 10-1:00
Office:  B527 LL                                                                                         W 12-1:00
Office Phone:  5-6222                                                       Other times by appointment
E-mail: maureen.goggin@asu.edu                                                          Spring 1999

Course Description:

The boundaries that mark literary study off from creative writing, composition, rhetoric, communications, linguistics, and film . . . bespeak a history of conflict that was critical to creating and defining these disciplines yet has never become a central part of their context of study.
                                                                                         Graff Professing Literature (258)

Over thirty years ago, G. R. Carlsen complained that “it is discouraging to discover that we who are humanists and respect the importance of man’s political and cultural history know little or nothing of the history of education, the history of our own subject matter [English studies], or the history of our professional organization [the National Council of Teachers of English]” (615).  Nearly a decade later, John Ashmead pointed out that “wiser observers than I will have to explain why we maintain higher standards of history for the study of Chaucer than for the study of our discipline” (781).  In the years following these charges, scholars have begun to pay more attention to the history of English studies.  Histories of English departments (Watkins), literary studies (Graff), creative writing (Myers), linguistics (Andresen), speech communication (Cohen), and rhetoric and composition (Berlin) have appeared in increasing numbers over the last decade.  Historical studies, such as these, are important for understanding not only the forces that contributed to the rise of a discipine but also for understanding its present condition.

These histories, which primarily focus on one disciplinary leg over others, mask the tangled roots of now separate areas of study.  This course, however, will explore the “history of conflict that was critical to creating and defining the disciplines [literary study, creative writing, composition, rhetoric communications and linguistics]” that Graff so rightly observes has largely been ignored.

In this course we will examine the history of English studies both as a collection of academic disciplines and as a profession.  In other words, we will explore the rise of literary studies, rhetoric/composition, linguistics, and creative writing since the late nineteenth-century emergence of departments of English in the United States.  Although we will primarily consider historical developments between 1880 and 1990, we will also be concerned with middle to late eighteenth and early nineteenth century developments that prepared the way for the more recent institutions, practices, organizations and associations of English studies.  In exploring the formation of objects of study and discourses in the various disciplines that comprise English studies, we will consider some of the theories and values that have supported these.  Finally, we will also compare the competing historical explanations for the rise of various aspects of English studies to consider how these various histories themselves contribute to the construction of these disciplines.

Texts:

Graff, Gerald.  Professing Literature: An Institutional History.  Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1987.
Kitzhaber, Albert R.  Rhetoric in American Colleges, 1850-1900.  Dallas: Southern Methodist UP, 1990.
Berlin, James A.  Rhetoric and Reality: Writing Instruction in American Colleges, 1900-1985.  Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1987.
Andresen, Julie Tetel.  Linguistics in America, 1769-1924: A Critical History.  London: Routledge, 1990.
Myers, D. G.  The Elephants Teach: Creative Writing Since 1880.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995.
Coursepack at The Alternative Copy Shop, 915 S. Mill Ave (at the corner of University and Mill, near Tower Records)

Requirements:

Detailed descriptions of the following required assignments will be distributed:
 

4 Two-page Reader Response Papers  40%
Proposal and Working Bibliography        5%
Seminar Paper                                       35%
Oral Presentation                                  10%
Attendance & Participation                   10%

Scholar’s Log:  Although you are not required to keep a reading response log, I strongly urge you to do so. This is a place where you can record your reactions to the readings, raise questions, briefly summarize sources, and so on.  A log may provide you with a valuable resource for both the reader response papers and the more formal seminar paper.

Discussion Questions:  Please come to each class with questions to raise about the readings and with two or three key passages to call our attention to.

Attendance:  Because much of what is to be learned in this course occurs in class, regular attendance is expected.  The course is so constructed that even a few absences will create serious problems.

Assignments:  Papers are to be typed or computer printed and double spaced.  Papers not turned in on the due date will be marked down a half grade for each week the paper is late.

Incompletes:  Please do not assume that an incomplete will be given upon request.  University and departmental policy on the handling of incompletes will be followed; only in the case of verified emergencies and illnesses will an incomplete be given.

Withdrawal Deadlines

Unrestricted Withdrawal Deadline February 12
Restricted Course Withdrawal  April 2
Restricted Complete Withdrawal April 29

Andresen, Julie Tetel.  Linguistics in America, 1769-1924: A Critical History.  London: Routledge, 1990.
Ashmead, John.  “Class and Race in Humanities Teaching and Criticism.” College English 32 (1971): 778-82.
Berlin, James A.  Rhetoric and Reality: Writing Instruction in American Colleges, 1900-1985.  Carbondale: Southern Illinois UP, 1987.
Carlsen, G. R.  “A Handful of Reflections.”  College English 25 (1964): 614-16.
Cohen, Herman.  The History of Speech Communication: The Emergence of a Discipline, 1914-1945.  Annandale, VA: Speech Communication Association, 1994.
Graff, Gerald.  Professing Literature: An Institutional History.  Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1987.
Myers, D. G.  The Elephants Teach: Creative Writing Since 1880.  Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1995.
Watkins, Evan.  Worktime: English Departments and the Circulation of Cultural Values.  Stanford: Stanford UP, 1989.

 Syllabus

Week 1  January 18-22

  Introduction to the course

Week 2  January 25-29

  Parker “Where Do English Departments Come From?” 201-207 inCP
  Stewart “Some History Lessons for Composition Teachers” 208-211 inCP

  Kitzhaber Rhetoric Chpts. 1-2 (pp. 1-47)
  Adams et al. “Report (1892)” pp. 3-16 inCP

  Hoskin “Education and the Genesis of Disciplinarity” 110-127 inCP

Week 3  February 1-5

  Kitzhaber Rhetoric Chpts. 3-7 (pp. 49-152)

Week 4  February 8-12

  Kitzhaber Rhetoric  Chpts.8-12 (pp. 153-228)
  Hunt “The Place of English” pp. 128-135 inCP

Week 5  February 15-19

  Franklin “English Studies in America” pp. 66-75 inCP
  Franklin “English Studies” pp. 76-83 inCP
  Graff Professing Literature Chpts. 1-7 (pp.1-118)

   Due:  Response Paper 1

Week 6  February 22-26

  Graff Professing Literature Chpts. 8-15 (pp. 121-262)

Week 7  March 1-5

  Bochner & Eisenberg “Legitimizing Speech Communication” pp. 31-43 inCP
  Andresen Linguistics in America Preface-Chpt. 2 (pp. 1-119)

   Due:  Proposal and Working Bibliography for Seminar paper

Week 8  March 8-12

  Andresen Linguistics in America Chpts. 3-Conclusion (pp. 120-254)

   Due:  Response Paper 2

Week 9  March 15-19 SPRING BREAK  **NO CLASSES**
 

Week 10  March 22-26

  Research -- CCCC

Week 11  March 29-April 2

  Ohmann “Writing and Reading” pp. 193-200 inCP
  Berlin Rhetoric and Reality Chpts. 1-5 (pp. 1-119)

   Due:  Response Paper 3

Week 12  April 5-9

  Berlin Rhetoric and Reality Chpts. 6-8 (pp. 120-190)
  Connors “Crisis and Panacea” pp. 43-52 inCP
  North Selections from The Making of Knowledge pp. 145-158 in CP

Week 13  April 12-16

  Nystrand et al. “Where Did Composition Studies Come From?” 159-192 inCP
  Greenbaum “The Tradition of Complaint” pp. 105-109 inCP
  Connors “The New Abolitionism” pp. 53-65 inCP
  Goggin “The Disciplinary Instability of Composition” pp. 93-104 inCP

Week 14  April 19-23

  Myers The Elephants Teach  Introduction-Chpt. 4 (pp. 1-100)

Week 15  April 26-30

  Myers The Elephants Teach Chpts. 5-7 (pp. 101-168)

  Due:  Response Paper 4

Week 16  May 3-7

  Oral Reports and Wrap-up