next to a title indicates that a completed entry already exists for this book in the bestsellers database: if such an entry exists, it should be considered required reading.
Browse the Bestsellers | Choose a Bestseller |
| 1900-1909 | 1910-1919 | 1920-1929 | 1930-1939 | 1940-1949 |
| 1950-1959 | 1960-1969 | 1970-1979 | 1980-1989 | 1990-1999 |
In this course, we will use 20th-century American literature as a means of understanding 20th-century America. We will do so by reading best-selling novels and analyzing the causes and components of their popularity. Supplementary reading will focus on the publishing industry and the profession of authorship in America, and it is worth adding that you can check out one or more movie versions of most of the assigned readings (and perhaps your own book as well) from the Robertson Media Center. In the fall of 2002, the course theme will be "Bestsellers and the Movies." Students will be required to watch movie versions of at least three of the required books, outside of class hours, in order to answer essays questions on the midterm and the final exam. Movies are on reserve in Clemons, and can be viewed in the Robertson Media Center.
See: Schedule of Readings (NB: the required readings for this course include online readings linked from the schedule of readings, as well as the novels listed below)
A linked title indicates full text of the novel is available online. next to a title indicates that a completed entry already exists for this book in the bestsellers database: if such an entry exists, it should be considered required reading.
| Owen Wister, The Virginian (1902) [illustrations: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8] |
| Anita Loos, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1926) |
| Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca (1938) Orson Welles' 1939 Campbell Playhouse radio production of Rebecca (a one-hour, 28MB mp3 file) |
| Mickey Spillane, Kiss Me Deadly (1952) |
| John Steinbeck, East of Eden (1952) |
| Mario Puzo, The Godfather (1969) |
| Peter Benchley, Jaws (1974) |
| Tom Wolfe, Bonfire of the Vanities (1987) |
| You will also, of course, need to read the book you choose for your database assignments |
See: Grading Policy
Students will be required to complete a series of assignments during the semester, focused on a single best-seller (chosen from the lists of bestsellers by decade, above, but not a book that has already been chosen by someone else, nor any of the required readings for the course). These assignments will comprise a bibliographical description of a first edition, a publication history (including performances in other media, if any), a biographical sketch of the author, a reception history, and a critical analysis of the work in its cultural and literary contexts. All of these assignments will be submitted online, using Web-based submission forms: they will become part of an ongoing project to compile a Web-accessible database of information about bestselling 20th-century American literature.
For each assignment, students must also submit a list of the sources consulted in completing each subsection of that assignment, whether or not the source produced information
Database Submissions:
Online Resources | Class Email Log |
Library Resources |
Supplemental Reading |
| Credits and Acknowledgements | Rave Reviews: Bestselling Fiction in America |
| An interview describing this class (from the MLA's radio show "What's the Word") downloadable in in MP3 format (7.3 MB) or as streaming audio, in RealAudio format | |
