American Road Trip: Syllabus
K20.1263 Spring 2007 Steve Hutkins
REQUIRED TEXTS
Twain, Mark. Roughing It (Penguin)
Beauvoir, Simone de. America Day by Day (U of California)
Kerouac, Jack. On the Road (Penguin)
Wolfe, Tom. The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test (Bantam)
Sullivan, Robert. Cross Country (Bloomsbury)
Steinbeck, John. Travels with Charley: In Search of America (Penguin)
Heat-Moon, William Least. Blue Highways: A Journey into America (Fawcett Crest)
McCarthy, Cormac. The Road (Knopf)
REVISED SYLLABUS: PLEASE NOTE THESE CHANGES
|
March 6 |
A QUIXOTIC SCHEME |
Travels With Charley, Entire |
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March 13 |
SPRING BREAK |
|
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March 20 |
HISTORY OF THE ROAD |
Cross Country, pp. 3 - 198 |
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March 27 |
HISTORY OF THE ROAD, Cont. |
Cross Country, 199 - end |
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April 3 |
EXISTENTIALIST ON THE ROAD |
Projects Due De Beauvoir, America Day By Day (review) |
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April 10 |
LOST IN THE LABYRINTH |
Blue Highways: Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test |
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April 17 |
END OF THE ROAD |
The Road (entire) |
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April 24 |
CONCLUSION |
Final Paper Due |
SCHEDULE OF READINGS
|
WEEK |
THEME FOR DISCUSSION |
ASSIGNMENT (due for this class) |
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Jan. 16 |
INTRODUCTION |
Whitman, “Song of the Open Road” Tocqueville, from Democracy in America Turner, “The Signficance of the Frontier” |
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Jan. 23 |
VAGABOND ON THE FRONTIER |
Roughing It, chpts. 1 – 24 (skip 16), 31 – 34 |
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Jan. 30 |
MLLE. GULLIVER EN AMERIQUE |
America Day by Day, 3-176, 231-248, 303-9, 327-337, 381-390 |
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Feb. 6 |
THE BEAT OF THE ROAD |
On the Road, parts 1 - 2 |
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Feb. 13 |
THE QUEST FOR LOST BLISS |
On the Road, parts 3 – 5 |
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Feb. 20 |
ON THE BUS—OR OFF |
Acid Test, pp. 1 - 213 |
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Feb. 27 |
THE OUTLAW PICARO |
Acid Text, pp. 214 - end |
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March 6 |
HISTORY OF THE ROAD, PART 1 |
Cross Country, pp. 3 - 198 |
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March 13 |
SPRING BREAK |
|
|
March 20 |
HISTORY OF THE ROAD, PART 2 |
Cross Country, 199 - end |
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March 27 |
|
Projects due |
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April 3 |
A QUIXOTIC SCHEME |
Travels with Charley (entire) |
|
April 10 |
LOST IN THE LABYRINTH |
Blue Highways, selections tba |
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April 17 |
END OF THE ROAD |
The Road (entire) |
|
April 24 |
CONCLUSION |
Paper due |
REQUIREMENTS
1. In-class: quizzes on the reading, participation, attendance (25% of final grade)
2. Weekly blog assignments, due by class time (25%)
3. Project & presentation, due March 27 (25%)
4. 6-8-page final paper, due April 24 (25%)
(No Incomplete grades.)
CONTACT:
Office: 715 Broadway, Room. 503.
Phone: 998-7361.
E-mail: ssh1@nyu.edu.
Hours: Tues. & Thurs., 10 – 3
