English 305, American Literature I (1620-1865), is a 4-credit, chronological and thematic survey course that covers writings by Americans in English from the first settlements to the Civil War (roughly 1620-1865). The course cultivates an intermediate-level understanding of the major authors, genres, and movements in the so-called “American literary tradition.” Along the way, you will expand your critical vocabulary, develop your skills as a close reader, continue your training as a literary researcher, and deepen your understanding of the relation between literary text and historical context (including fine arts, material culture, architecture, religion, politics, music, and cultural geography).
More specifically, you will examine, in historical context, utopian writings by the first English-speaking settlers (e.g., Bradford, Bradstreet, Winthrop); nationalistic works from the era of the American Revolution (Franklin, Jefferson, Crevecoeur); romantic and transcendentalist celebrations of Nature and individualism (Cooper, Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller); the dark, gothic side of American culture (Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Dickinson); and the debate over freedom and slavery (Douglass, Jacobs, Stowe, Lincoln). The course readings will culminate in the struggle over the meaning of America in the context of the Civil War and its immediate aftermath.
Along the way, we will ask and attempt to answer such questions as the following: What is “American” literature? How does literature construct American identity? What characteristics cause a literary work to have influence over time? How are American myths created and re-created--and for what purposes?
I. UTOPIAN PROMISE, 1620-1750
Wednesday, August 31, 11-11:50 AM. Introduction and overview: What is “American Literature?” Screening: American Passages III.
Friday, September 2, 11-11:50 AM. William Bradford (156-162, 166-183, 195-196) and Thomas Morton (196-205).
Monday, September 5, 11-11:50 AM. John Winthrop (205-222), Roger Williams (226-227, 235-237), Francis Daniel Pastorius (366-371).
Wednesday, September 7, 11-11:50 AM. Last day to add/drop. Anne Bradstreet (238-247, 262-264, 272-275) and Edward Taylor (341, 359-362).
Friday, September 9, 11-11:50 AM. Mary Rowlandson (308-340).
II. THE SPIRIT OF NATIONALISM, 1710-1850
Monday, September 12, 11-11:50 AM. Jonathan Edwards (464-469, 498-509). Screening: American Passages IV.
Wednesday, September 14, 11-11:50 AM. Benjamin Franklin (515-516, 538-583, or as far as you can; the next day’s reading is less extensive).
Friday, September 16, 11-11:50 AM. Benjamin Franklin (583-610).
Monday, September 19, 11-11:50 AM. Thomas Jefferson (725-738).
Wednesday, September 21, 11-11:50 AM. Hector St. John De Crevecoeur (657-682).
Friday, September 23, 11-11:50 AM. Phillis Wheatley (808-810, 814-815, 818-821, 823-825).
Monday, September 26, 11-11:50 AM. Philip Freneau (791-792, 801-802), William Cullen Bryant (1071-1074), William Apess (1078-1084).
Wednesday, September 28, No Class; Speaking at Brown University.
Friday, September 30, 11-11:50 AM. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1103-1106, 1135-1147).
Monday, October 3, 11-11:50 AM. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1160-1176).
III. MASCULINE HEROES, 1820-1865
Wednesday, October 5, 11-11:50 AM. James Fenimore Cooper (1013-1029). Screening: American Passages V.
Friday, October 7, 11-11:50 AM. Caroline Kirkland (1085-1093), Fanny Fern (1746-1757).
Monday, October 10, No Class, Fall Break.
Wednesday, October 12, 11-11:50 AM. Henry David Thoreau (1788-1807; consider doing some advance reading—the next assignment is longer).
Friday, October 14, 11-11:50 AM. Henry David Thoreau (1807-1859, 1898-1912).
Monday, October 17, 11-11:50 AM. Walt Whitman (2127-2131, 2146-2189, try reading “Song of Myself” out loud, maybe take turns with a roommate).
Wednesday, October 19, 11-11:50 AM. Walt Whitman (catch up on “Song of Myself” assignment, 2189-2200). Pre-exam Review.
Friday, October 21, 11-11:50 AM. Mid-term Examination.
IV. AMERICAN GOTHIC, 1820-1865
Monday, October 24, 11-11:50 AM. Washington Irving (978-980, 992-1013). Screening: American Passages VI.
Wednesday, October 26, 11-11:50 AM. Edgar Allan Poe (1507-1510, 1524, 1534-1547).
Friday, October 28, 11-11:50 AM. Edgar Allan Poe (1561-1 575, 1592-1597).
Monday, October 31, 11-11:50 AM. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1247-1250, 1263-1289).
Wednesday, November 2, No Class; Speaking at Library of Congress.
Friday, November 4, No Class; Still in Washington.
Monday, November 7, 11-11:50 AM. Nathaniel Hawthorne (1358-1374, 1408-1414, 1454-1474). I tried to give you a representative selection of The Scarlet Letter, but I encourage you to read more if you have time.
Wednesday, November 9, No Class; At Newberry Advisor’s Meeting.
Friday, November 11, No Class; Still in Chicago.
Monday, November 14, 11-11:50 AM. Papers Due. Herman Melville (2287-2292, 2304-2330).
Wednesday, November 16, 11-11:50 AM. Herman Melville (2330-2355).
Friday, November 18, 11-11:50 AM. Emily Dickinson (2499-2503, and the following poems: #67, #185, #199, #214, #241, #249, #258, #280, #303, #324, #435, #441).
V. SLAVERY AND FREEDOM, 1780-1865
Monday, November 21, 11-11:50 AM. Frederick Douglass (2029-2065).
Wednesday, November 23, 11-11:50 AM. Frederick Douglass (2065-2097).
Friday, November 25, No Class, Thanksgiving Holiday.
Monday, November 28, 11-11:50 AM. Harriet Jacobs (1757-1779).
Wednesday, November 30, 11-11:50 AM. Harriet Beecher Stowe (1670-1697).
Friday, December 2, 11-11:50 AM. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1207-1216), Henry David Thoreau (1982-1992), Lydia Maria Child (1094-1103), and Abraham Lincoln (1608-1617).
Monday, December 5, 11-11:50 AM. Walt Whitman (2219-2232).
VI. REGIONAL REALISM, AFTER 1865
Wednesday, December 7, 11-11:50 AM. Rebecca Harding Davis (2545-2573).
Friday, December 9, 11-11:50 AM. Emma Lazarus (2597-2599, 2601). Looking back and looking ahead. SIRs Administered.
Wednesday, December 14, 10:30 AM-12:30 PM, Final Exam.
Schedule
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