VIETNAM WAR AND AMERICAN LITERATURE (352:350) Fall 2008

Professor H. Bruce Franklin Office: Hill 515

Phone: 973-353-5444 E-mail: hbf@andromeda.rutgers.edu

Office Hours: MON: 4-5 PM; WED: 2:30-3:30; and by appointment.

Home page: http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~hbf

REQUIRED TEXTS:

Vietnam and America, edited by Marvin Gettleman, Jane Franklin, Marilyn Young, and H. Bruce Franklin. Grove Press, 1995. (Abbreviated as V&A.)

Note: Do not use any earlier edition of this book because it will not contain all the assigned material.

Graham Greene, The Quiet American. Penguin paperback.

W. D. Ehrhart, Passing Time. University of Massachusetts Press paperback.

Stephen Wright, Meditations in Green. Vintage paperback.

Tim O'Brien, In the Lake of the Woods. Penguin paperback.

(Any edition of these books by Greene, Ehrhart, Wright, and O'Brien is o.k., but page references in class discussion will be to these particular editions.)

The Vietnam War in American Stories, Songs, and Poems, edited by H. Bruce Franklin.

Bedford Books. (Abbreviated as ASSP.)

Reading assignments must be completed by the following dates:

September 8 Bruce Springsteen, "Born in the U.S.A." In V&A: pp. xiii‑xv; 3-8; 15-28; 31-40. Poems of Ho Chi Minh (to be distributed).

September 10 V&A: pp. 46-48; 50-52. Video: "The Roots of a War" (shown in class)

September 15 Please use this class to clarify your view of the history through 1953. (This will help in your reading of The Quiet American.)

September 17 Graham Greene, The Quiet American (1955).

September 22 V&A: pp. 65-76; 81-92.

September 24 V&A: pp. 97-105; 113-129; 133-135; 156-160.

September 29 V&A: pp. 165-201; 205-236.

October 1 V&A: 239-254.

October 6 In ASSP: INTRODUCTION; FICTION; Inside the War; Michael Paul McCusker, "The Old Man"; Larry Rottmann, "Thi Bong Dzu"; David Huddle, "The Interrogation of the Prisoner Bung by Mister Hawkins and Sergeant Tree"; Tim O'Brien, "The Man I Killed."

October 8 In ASSP: Introduction to Poems; poems by Jan Barry, Richard M. Mishler, Stan Platke, Dale Ritterbusch, "Search and Destroy"; Larry Rottmann, "APO 96225," "For Cissy Shellabarger, R.N. Wherever You Are," and "What Kind of War?" (Poetry assignments in ASSP refer to all the poems by the designated author unless specific poems are listed.)

October 13 V&A: "The Movement Against the War" (pp. 295‑335). In ASSP: poems by June Jordan; Denise Levertov; Pedro Pietri; Luis Omar Salinas; Horace Coleman, "OK Corral East/Brothers in the Nam."

Movie: "Only the Beginning."

October 15 In ASSP: Ward Just, "The Congressman Who Loved Flaubert"; Mary Hazzard, from Idle and Disorderly Persons; Wayne Karlin,"Moratorium."

October 20 V&A: "The Decisive Year, 1968" (pp. 339‑409).

October 22 V&A: "What Happened at My Lai?" (pp. 410-424).

In ASSP: The Vietnam War and American Science Fiction; Kate Wilhelm, "The Village"; Poems by Steve Hassett.

October 27 In ASSP: Songs (pp. 203-218); in V&A: pp. 427-437; 451-470.

November 3 W. D. Ehrhart, Passing Time (1986).

November 5 In ASSP: Poems by Lady Borton; Sharon Grant; Penny Kettlewell; Basil T. Paquet; Yusef Komunyakaa; Frank A. Cross, Jr.; W. D. Ehrhart; Marilyn M. McMahon. In ASSP: George Davis, “Ben.”

November 10 & November 12 Movie: Hearts and Minds (1974).

November 12 Stephen Wright, Meditations in Green (1983). [This is a challenging novel. Except for the poems due on November 5, it is the only assigned reading between November 3 and 12.]

November 17 V&A: pp. 471‑479. Compare the NLF's Ten Points and the U.S. Eight Points (pp. 430-434) with the Paris Peace Accords (471-479). Which side got the other to accept what it was fighting for? V&A: pp. 487-488; 500-515. [On page 500, insert the following sentence after “kicked the Vietnam syndrome once and for all.” “A few months later, on April 9, 1991, the President handed Vietnam a ‘Road Map’ toward normalizing relations within two years.”] In ASSP: Larry Rottmann, "The Bones of an American M.I.A. Speak to the Members of the Joint Casualty Resolution Team"; Dale Ritterbusch, "At the Crash Site of a B-52: January 1994."

November 19 In ASSP: Aftermaths (introduction); Stephanie Vaughn, "Kid MacArthur."

November 24 In ASSP: Ronald Anthony Cross, "The Heavenly Blue Answer"; Lewis Shiner, "The War at Home"; poems by John Balaban; Ron Carter; Joan A. Furey; Janice Mirikitani; Linda Van Devanter; Bruce Weigl.

December 1 Tim O'Brien, In the Lake of the Woods (1994).

December 3 By this time, your essay or story should be well under way. Part of the class this day will be devoted to providing help on your writing project.

December 8 V&A: pp. 489-494; 515-522. [On page 520, eight lines from bottom, please make the following correction: Change “January 16, 1961” to January 16, 1991. This is crucially important because it marks the beginning of the Iraq War.] Relate these readings to our present situation.

December 10 Final day for submission of original essay or short story (minimum length 2,500 words). Do not leave the writing or typing of this project for the last minute.  The hard copy is due in class. You must also submit a digitized copy, either on a disk or by e-mail, within 24 hours of this class meeting. This class will provide important review and preparation for the final examination.

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This is intended to be a challenging course. No prior knowledge of the history is expected, but learning significant parts of that history is essential.

There will be several brief tests on the reading, given without prior announcement. Students are responsible for keeping up with the reading schedule. Missed tests will count as zero unless the absence is excused; please submit written requests for excused absences. There will be a final examination but no mid‑term.

In determining the grade for the course, approximately equal weight will be given to (1) the brief tests, (2) the short story or essay, and (3) the final examination. In addition, each student's work will be evaluated on overall performance, with attention given to attendance, participation in discussion, and the level of knowledge and understanding ultimately reached.

Instructions for Writing Project

The essay or short story you are writing for this course is an opportunity for an original, valuable achievement. Think of it as something you are preparing for publication. That is, you are addressing an audience of reasonably intelligent strangers whom you must entice to read your work and who will have a valuable experience reading it. Most questions about form and content can be answered easily if you put yourself in your readers' shoes. The essay or story should contribute to your readers' understanding of some aspect of the subject matter of the course. Learning about Vietnam and America while living amid the Iraq War and the so-called “War on Terror,” you are in a perfect position to show your readers how the past helps us understand the present and how the present helps us understand the past.

If you choose to write an essay, please avoid the boring "term paper" mode and do not just regurgitate what's already available in books, magazines, or web sites. Many of the most interesting essays done in previous years were personal essays, based on the authors' own experience‑-sometimes quite disturbing‑-as they encountered facts and ideas presented in the course. Doing interviews or a survey can also provide valuable material for an essay. Or you might explore some area in which you already have some expertise (such as music, movies, a particular TV show, etc.).

If you choose to write a story, this should also be based on your own research, knowledge, and experience. Some of the finest stories done in previous years used a point-of-view character quite similar to the author. Study the techniques and methods used in short stories that you find effective. Remember that you need to develop believable characters and scenes in order to get your readers to experience your fictional world. Short stories usually consist of very few scenes, sometimes only one, developed in detail.

The minimum length is 2,500 words. If you are having difficulty reaching this length, you can be sure there is some problem in your conception and development of your essay or story. There is no maximum length.

On proper use and acknowledgement of sources, be sure you have a copy of the Rutgers Policy on Academic Integrity and are familiar with its contents, especially the sections on Level 2 and Level 3 violations. The penalty for submitting a purchased or plagiarized paper is suspension from the University.

The physical appearance of your work should be attractive and professional looking. It should be double-spaced throughout. The print should be very black (not gray and faded) and pleasant to read. There is no adequate excuse for frequent errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar. So allow yourself ample time for proofreading. Late papers will be penalized unless there is a medical or other emergency. Be sure to back up your work on a disk or flash memory and keep a copy of your paper when you turn it in.