Unit I:
The Wizard of 0z, L. Frank Baum. Any unabridged
edition.
Dust and Short Works,
Marcet and Emanuel Haldeman-Julius. Washburn University Center for Kansas Studies,
1992. Available as e-books at http://www.washburn.edu/reference/cks/sources.html#electronicbooks.
Sod and Stubble, John Ise. University of Kansas,
ed. Von Rothenberger, 1996.
The Kansas Experience in Poetry, ed. Lorrin Leland.
Independent Study, University of Kansas, 1982. (Provided by Independent Study
with your other course materials.)
Unit II:
Not Without Laughter, Langston Hughes. Any edition.
As Grass, Edythe Squier Draper. Center for Kansas
Studies, Washburn University, 1994.
Picnic, William Inge. Dramatists Play Service, Inc.,
1955.
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, William Inge.
Dramatists Play Service, Inc., 1972.
Kansas Poems of William Stafford, ed. Denise Low.
Woodley Memorial Press, 1990.
Rattlebone, Maxine Clair. Penguin, 1994.
The Last Cattle Drive, Robert Day. University Press
of Kansas, 1983.
For students taking this course for graduate credit, one additional book, chosen from the list in the Additional Assignment for Graduate Credit, is required.
Lesson 1 and Lesson 10 assigned readings may be accessed through the University of Kansas Libraries "E-Reserves" Internet site. (Note: At this point, enrolled students are given instructions on how to access these readings.)
Four audio cassette tapes are included in this course to aid in your understanding of Kansas history and literature. The following lessons include tapes:
These tapes will be provided with your other course materials. Independent Study cannot provide you with a cassette player. If you do not own one yourself or can't borrow one from a friend, you might be able to borrow or rent one from your local school or library.
You might find it helpful to read more about the culture and history of Kansas along with the literature. A few books I recommend are:
What Kansas Means to Me: Twentieth-Century Writers on
the Sunflower State, ed. Thomas F. Averill. University Press of Kansas,
1991.
Kansas Revisited: Historical Images and Perspectives,
ed. Paul K. Stuewe. Division of Continuing Education, University of Kansas,
© 1990, Revised 1998.
Kansas, A Bicentennial History, Kenneth S. Davis.
W. W. Norton & Co., 1976.
Kansas, A Land of Contrasts, Robert W. Richmond.
Harlan Davidson, 1999.
The Kansas Art Reader, ed. J. W. Bell. Independent
Study, Division of Continuing Education, University of Kansas, 1976.
You might also want to read about responding to and writing about literature. I recommend:
A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, Wilfred
Guerin, et al. Harper & Row, 1960.
Writing Themes About Literature, Edgar V. Roberts.
Prentice-Hall, 1967.
Finally the following two handbooks about writing might be useful:
A Short Handbook and Style Sheet, Thomas Pinney.
Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977.
Elements of Style, Strunk & White. Macmillan,
1972.
To easily access the Web sites included in some of the lessons, go to http://www.continuinged.ku.edu/is/checkurl.html. These sites are checked and updated several times a year, so you may find URLs that have replaced those given in this study guide. If you have trouble accessing any links, please notify the Independent Study office and/or your instructor using the e-mail submission boxes provided at the site.
Top of Page | Bottom of PageThe first object of any literature course is to familiarize you with a body of literature and to help you learn to read carefully and write analytically.
Beyond that, I hope you'll gain a better sense of the state of Kansas and the literary responses to it. In one sense, all writing is regional. That is, it must be set in some tangible, concrete place that we as readers can become familiar with. Otherwise the literature lacks the physical detail that makes it believable. As Kansas writer Paul Wellman believed, all great literature transcends place, but no great work forgets place.
Further, I hope you'll get a sense of just how much Kansas literature does exist and how good much of it is. In some cases, you may be reading books by writers who grew up or were educated in the same places you were.
Finally, I hope you'll gain a sense of the forces that shape and affect you, as well as shape the literature, and that you'll expand your sense of your own heritage.
You will be asked to write one 3-5 page essay on lesson 1; and two 7-10 page essays (choosing from three assignments that cover the rest of the course) for a total of three essays. Some of the lessons will be accompanied by audiotapes that should help you understand the writer and the work. Sometimes I will reprint an article that will show you how someone else has responded to a writer or book. Please remember that the thoughtful, considered response of anyone seriously approaching a book is important. What you say will be unique if you respond to it honestly, openly, and from your own perspective. Most importantly, a full response comes from a full experience of whatever books you are assigned. Take your time, let yourself be thoughtful, underline important passages, ask yourself all the questions the writers raise, and take yourself seriously. When you do, your responses will be more than adequate.
Do not submit the second writing assignment until you have received comments from your instructor on your first. Be sure to include an Independent Study cover sheet with your writing assignments.
Top of Page | Bottom of PageIf you are enrolled in this course for graduate credit you are required to complete the three assignments described above and an additional long paper. From the following list of related books, choose one that will enhance your reading and understanding of one of authors you've read for this course in Kansas literature. After you've read the book, please write a 10-12 page paper in which you discuss some or all of the following:
Related Books
To The Wizard of Oz:
Was, by Geoff Ryman, or
Wicked, by Gregory Maguire
To Dust:
Short Works, by Marcet and Emanuel Haldeman-Julius
(included in same volume as Dust)
To Sod and Stubble:
Chaff in the Wind, by Edna Walker Chandler, or
Shukar Balan: The White Lamb, by Mela Meisner Lindsay,
or
Come Spring, by Charlotte Hinger
To The Kansas Experience in Poetry:
The Kansas Poems, by Kenneth Wiggins Porter (available
in paperbook or online from the Kansas Studies Center. See Appendix C, Kansas
Electronic Books.)
To Not without Laughter:
Selected Poems of Langston Hughes (Vintage Classic)
To the plays by William Inge:
either Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff or My
Son is a Splendid Driver, both by Inge
To The Kansas Poems of William Stafford:
The Way It Is, by William Stafford
To Rattlebone:
October Suite, by Maxine Clair
To The Last Cattle Drive:
Speaking French in Kansas and Other Stories, by
Robert Day
To Not without Laughter and Rattlebone:
The Learning Tree, by Gordon Parks
Some of these books are out of print, but will be available at public and university libraries. Books that are in print can be special ordered through your local or university book store.
Top of Page | Bottom of PageThe final examination will be a supervised, closed-book, comprehensive test. Half of the exam will consist of quotation identifications—one from each work—and half will be essays. You must pass the final exam in order to pass the course.
An optional sample final follows lesson 10. After completing the writing assignments, you may submit the sample final to your instructor, who will grade it and provide comments that should help you prepare for the final. The sample final grade will not count as part of your course grade. If you choose to take the sample final, be sure to submit it before you apply to take the final exam. Your final grade will be determined according to one of the following formulas.
For undergraduate credit:
Essay 1 25%
Essay 2 25%
Essay 3 25%
Final Exam 25%
For graduate credit:
Essay 1 15%
Essay 2 20%
Essay 3 20%
Graduate Essay 25%
Final Exam 20%
Please use the form at the end of this study guide to record your progress through the course.
Though not a native of Kansas, I was brought here at age five and have been a loyal resident ever since. In 1967 I came to the University of Kansas from Topeka, my hometown, and received both a B.A. (1971) and M.A. (1974) in English. In 1975 I went to the University of Iowa, completing an M.F.A. in creative writing in 1976. From 1976 to 1980, I lived in Lawrence and taught Kansas literature, composition, and short-story writing at the University of Kansas. Since 1980, I have been at Washburn University, where I teach creative writing and Kansas literature and am writer-in-residence.
My most recent book is a novel, Secrets of the Tsil Café, published in 2001 by BlueHen, an imprint of Penguin Putnam. Before that, I published other books, all set in, or about, Kansas: Passes at the Moon (a story collection from Woodley Press, 1985 ), Seeing Mona Naked (a story collection from Watermark Press, 1989). I am the editor of What Kansas Means to Me: Twentieth Century Writers on the Sunflower State (University Press of Kansas, 1991). In the Fall of 1996, Eagle Books (Wichita) brought out my Oleander's Guide to Kansas: How You Know When You're Here, a collection of radio commentaries as delivered by my radio counterpart, William Jennings Bryan Oleander, an old man heard on KANU, 91.5, Public Radio from the University of Kansas.
I am also the author of numerous articles, poems, and short stories (most recently in New Letters, Cimarron Review, Chariton Review, North American Review and Doubletake) and a frequent speaker on Kansas culture.
I helped to found, and was the first director of, the Washburn University Center for Kansas Studies, whose bibliographies will be cited at the end of the course for future reading.