Oakland University
Department of English

ED 307, T/Th 6:30-9:50 PM

Brian Connery
521 Wilson Hall, 248.370.2254
T/Th 5:00-5:45, and by appointment
connery@oakland.edu

Course Description:

Texts: We’ll explore satire as a mode or genre in the American tradition in a variety of media (newspapers, prose narrative, film, and standup comedy). While satire, by its nature, tends to focus upon transient events, we’ll be attending in particular to its treatment of enduring issues such as race and ethnicity. Questions raised will include the following: What is the cultural work performed by satire? Is satire anti- democratic? essentially conservative or progressive? Is there a discernible American tradition of satire? What are the relations between humor, satire, persona, and irony, especially in American works? We will also consider the particularly sensitive relation between form and content in satire, including a consideration of the relation between satire and parody. Works and authors considered are likely to include James Russell Lowell’s The Bigelow Papers; pamphlets by Benjamin Franklin; newspaper columns by Fanny Fern; short fiction by Edith Wharton; Mark Twain’s Pudd’nhead Wilson; Nathanael West’s Cool Million; George Schuyler’s Black No More; Ishmael Reed’s Mumbo Jumbo; and short works by Finley Peter Dunne, Langston Hughes, Al Franken, and Molly Ivins; we’ll view films by the likes of Stanley Kubrick (Dr. Strangelove), Robert Downey Sr. (Putney Swope), John Sayles (Brother from Another Planet), Robert Townsend (Hollywood Shuffle), Spike Lee (Bamboozled), and David Byrne (True Stories); and we’ll consider briefly some of the standup work of comedians like Dick Gregory, Lenny Bruce, Richard Pryor, Mort Sahl, and Will Durst. Class format will largely be discussion; students will write and present a report, write two take-home tests, and write a term paper or complete a project.

Policies: Faithful attendance and regular participation in class are expected.

Students with special needs are welcome to discuss them with me. Some services for students with special needs are available through the Office of Special Advising.

The grade of Incomplete is available only to students who have demonstrated regular and steady progress in the course but for whom unforeseeable and uncontrollable circumstances make impossible the timely completion of the course. Students must petition in writing for a grade of incomplete.

Students suspected of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Students and the Senate Committee on Academic Conduct. Cheating on any course assignment may result in failure for the course.

Classroom decorum is everybody’s responsibility. Please arrive on time and plan to stay for the full meeting. Turn your cell phone off for the duration of the class meeting. Work to create a classroom environment in which everybody feels comfortable and unthreatened. In addressing your classmates (or your instructor), in class or on the discussion list, you may argue vigorously, indeed passionately, but please maintain the same respect for others as you wish them to maintain toward you.

TEXTS: Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson and other tales (Oxford U P); George Schuyler, Black No More (Modern Library); Nathanael West, A Cool Million and the Dream Life of Balso Snell (Farrar, Straus); Ishmael Reed, Mumbo Jumbo; coursepack available at Textbook Outlet Center, at the NE corner of Squirrel and Walton.

Some related links, mostly purportedly satire:

AS@UVA Anthology of Southwestern Humor

B.A.S.H., (Baptists Are Saving Homosexuals) -- courtesy of Stacey T.

Assignments: The following simple formula will determine your final grade.

Viewing of Dr. Strangelove

Tuesday, May 11

Viewing of Brother from Another Planet

Tuesday, May 24

Viewing of Putney Swope

Tuesday, June 1

Michael Moore's critics respond on Moore Exposed.

Tuesday, June 8