SUMMER READING LIST[1]

I Know Why the Cadged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (5 copies)

Herzog by Saul Below (1 copy)

For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (1 copy)

The Turn of the Screw by Henry James (8 copies)

The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers (2 copies)

Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. (1 copy)

The Human Comedy by William Saroyan (1 copy)

Portroy’s Complaint by Philip Roth (1 copy)

The Kitchen God’s Wife by Amy Tan (1 copy)

The Crucible by Arthur Miller (2 copies)

“Billy Budd, the Sailor” by Herman Melville (2 copies)

Assignment #1

Go to the library and browse the stacks. Open the books assigned on the list. See what appeals to your reading sensibilities.
Then, choose TWO of the listed items (two titles).
For each book, keep a reading journal; i.e., while you read make note of the following things:

What is the relationship that characters have with the setting?
Does setting determine a character, nationally? Ethnically? Racially?
Do the character(s) stand for an idea? A history?
What do they share in common, what is their ‘American-ness’?
Do they teach you anything about the creation of a collective identity? Is it a manifold one, or a stentorian one?

The journals can (but does not have to be) typed. They need to be submitted no later than the FIRST WEEK of classes in September 2006.

Assignment #2

Having read the TWO works you had chosen, you also need to produce a long-paper (a longer essay), one which uses at Least THREE additional sources (remember the long-paper we researched?). The paper needs to filter in your understanding of ONE of the chosen works, when set up against ONE of the suggested topics (see below) –

· Collective vs. individual thought
· Sense of belonging vs. an immigrant past
· Lifestyles: reality vs. fantasy (dreams)

The essay is also due THE FIRST WEEK OF CLASSES (September 2006)

Have a Great SummerJ










[1] All titles are available in the school library. However, some of them are in limited supply, so the process functions on a ‘first come, first serve basis’. Reminder: You CANNOT take out the summer reading books out if you haven’t returned ALL of the assigned materials from this year.