&Faulkner

H&F

Hemingway

One of Western Kentucky Uni-versity’s more unique course

offerings is its Honors: Hemingway & Faulkner class.

Taught by Walker Rutledge, the class offers an introduction to two of America’s greatest literary figures: Ernest Hemingway and William Faulkner.

Besides offering a primer on two of the most important voices in American literature, the course also offers students an opportuni-ty to learn in a truly unique way.

Over the course of the semes-ter, students in the class have the option to go on two extended field trips.

The trips take students to the homes of both Hemingway and Faulkner in Illinois and Mississippi, offering a true “outside the class-room” experience.

Through the course, students can learn about these authors on a deeper level than a regular course allows.

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Oak Park & ChiCagO The class’s first trip of the semester is to Oak Park and Chicago, Illinois, where Ernest Hemingway was born and raised.

While there, students visit First United Church of Oak Park, the Hemingway Archives, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple, the Ernest Hemingway Museum, and Hemingway’s Birthplace.

Students also take a walking tour of Chicago and Oak Park, including locations such as Hemingway’s home and high school.

On the last day of the trip, students get to visit the Art Insti-tute of Chicago, where they can view famous works like “Ameri-can Gothic” and “Nighthawks.”

Clockwise from top left: the ceiling of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple, a Victorian style home in Oak Park, and a view of the

Chicago skyline from the Art Institute of Chicago.

The fall 2012 class on the front porch of Hem-ingway’s birth home.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

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Faulkner

OxfOrd The class’s second trip of the semester is to Oxford, Missis-sippi, where William Faulkner grew up. Faulkner also based his fictional “Yoknapatawpha County” on Oxford.

While in Mississippi, students visit Ripley Cemetery, New Alba-ny (Faulkner’s birthplace), and take a private tour of Rowan Oak, where Faulkner spent most of his adult life.

Students also get to experience Oxford’s town square, and attend a radio show at Off Square Books. Students then head to the Taylor Country Store for dinner, one of the few real locations that Faulkner referenced in his works.

Students also visit Faulkner’s grave at St. Peter’s Cemetery and take a tour of the University of Mississippi and get to see Faulk-ner’s Nobel Prize while there.

Clockwise from top left: Meriwether Lewis’s grave, which students visit on the way to Mississippi, a statue of William Faulkner, a sign at St. Peter’s Cemetery, and the College Hill Store, which served as

a model for the general store in Faulkner’s “Barn Burning.”

The fall 2012 class on the front porch of Faulkner’s estate, Rowan Oak.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

H&FUnderstanding the CoUrse

The PrOfessOr

The MaTerialHemingway and Faulkner are not only the best-known American Nobel-prize laureates, but they are unquestionably the most important American literary stylists of the twenti-eth century.

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- Professor Walker Rutledge

While it would be impossible to cover all of Hemingway and Faulk-ner’s extensive works over the course of a semester, the Hemingway and Faulkner class gives students a feel for both of the authors and their unique styles. Besides short stories, students also read seven novels over the course of the semester:

The Sun Also Rises A Farewell to Arms

For Whom the Bell TollsThe Old Man and the Sea

Go Down, MosesThe Sound and the Fury

As I Lay Dying Performance in the course is eval-uated through reading quizzes and a series of essays on the works read for the class. For the final, students write a comprehensive comparison of the two authors.

Professor Rutledge with students Elizabeth Beilman, Meg Kennedy, and Shawna Felkins after eating lunch in Oak Park, Illinois.

Professor Walker Rutledge is some-what of a luminary at Western Ken-tucky University. While he teaches a number of English classes at the uni-versity, he’s well-known for teaching Honors: Hemingway and Faulkner. Says student Shawna Felkins of Rutledge and his class:“The course is the most immersive one I’ve participated in at Western, and the depth of knowledge that Professor Rutledge brings to the literature cre-ates a new level of understanding. The field trips are the final piece in making the course complete, allowing all of the students to experience the lives of such prolific writers through an explo-ration of their homesteads in Oak Park and Oxford.

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