ENGLISH 332.

65405
WallaWalla University

INTRODUCTION TO THE AMERICAN NOVEL

Dr. Elliot E. Rothenberg Office: 525– 2920

West Hall Home: 525 – 2920
Office Hours: T – TH 10:30 – 7 PM

FORMER REQUIRED TEXTS

Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter Faulkner, As I Lay Dying

Melville, Typee Nabokov, Lolita
Chopin, The Awakening LeGuin, The Left Hand Of Darkness

CURRENT REQUIRED TEXT

Krauss/Aruego, Leo The Late Bloomer

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Our project formerly sought to digest and explore a few of the finest novels written over
the past two centuries in America. It had always been impossible to do justice to the
American Novel as genre in a single semester. The class had therefore been structured
around a series of thematically related propositions; precisely attempting to examine the
novels in terms of the authors’ geographical, cultural, and political milieu and observe the
contradictory novelistic styles as America emerged a force independent of its European
origins.

Bu this was before the previous summer and prior to a series of events dramatically
shifting and interrupting my way of life. My very sense of purpose and being. The effect
of which, has encouraged to me to adapt a more appropriate medium of exploration. In
this case, to focus solely on the children’s classic, Leo The Late Bloomer. Not only a
standout among children’s books, but also a narrative I’ve personally relied on and clung
to throughout this difficult time. A time in which I’ve both been deeply wounded and
done things I deeply regret. Without a doubt, its narrative allowed these past few months
to pass in a modicum of sanity while steering thoughts of self-expiration to towards
something resembling a fruitful or, at least, bearable life.
 TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED:

1) CHILDREN’S FICTION AS HOPE; CHILDREN’S FICTION AS DESPAIR

2) THE UN-FULFILLED PROTAGONIST AS TRAGIC; AS AXIOMATIC
3) GUILT AND DEPRESSION AS THRESHOLD FOR PERSONAL
ESTRANGEMENT/ CEASELESS VOID OF EXISTENCE
4) THE HOPE/ DESPAIR DIALECTIC: PERSONAL, FAMILIAL, SOCIAL
5) DEGRESS OF FORGIVENESS IN MORAL TRANSGRESSION: INFIDELITY,
DISHONESTY, CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
6) SIN AND INDISCRETION AS ARTISTIC GENIUS; AS SOCIOPATH

NARRATIVE ABSTRACT: “Leo The Late Bloomer”

- “Leo couldn’t do anything right.”

- “He couldn’t read. He couldn’t write, He couldn’t draw. He was a sloppy eater. And,
he never said a word.”
- “What’s the matter with Leo?’ asked Leo’s father. ‘Nothing,’ said Leo’s mother. ‘Leo is
just a late bloomer.’ ‘Better late than never,’ thought Leo’s father.

(Lurid description, illustrative and textual, regarding the seemingly interminable length
of time Leo’s Father and Mother wait for Leo to catch up with the culturally prescribed
norm; i.e. “bloom.”)

- “Then one day, in his own good time, Leo bloomed!”

- “He could read! He could write! He could draw! He ate neatly!”
- “He also spoke. And it wasn’t just one word. It was a whole sentence. And that
sentence was…”
- “I made it!”

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Beyond attendance, I expect nothing more of you except to be kind and gentle;
supportive and compassionate with me as your teacher and as a fellow human being who,
accordingly, struggles each and everyday as you do. Perhaps, lately, a bit more so than
yourself. Finally, I ask for understanding and wisdom if I’m in desperate need of a hug
and/ or personal advice.

“This will be the last you hear from me,

gone with the wind, to forever fall,
bleak a child,
vengeful whore
Why?”
- E. Rothenberg