American Literature Before 1900
Instructor: Gary Hoffman Section: English 150, Spring 2009
Voicemail: 714-432-5714 email: [email protected]
Office hours: 9:45-10:15AM MW & TTH; 12:20--12:50 MW; 6:30-7:30AM on-line F
DO NOT SUBSTITURE EDITONS. DO NOT PURCHASE MARKED COPIES.
ALL REQUIRED.
Whitman
Dickinson
Twain
Hawthorne
Thoreau
Melville
James
Hoffman
Selected Poems
Selected Poems
Advent of Huckl. Finn
Young Goodman Br & Ot
Walden; or Life in Woods
Moby Dick
Turn of the Screw & Oth
Adios Strunk & White
4th edition
Dover
Dover
Dover
Dover
Dover
Modern Library
Signet Classic
Verve Press
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0-486-26466-1
0-486-28061-6
0-486-27060-2
0-486-28495-6
0-679-78327-X
0-451-52606-6
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4th edition
paper
paper
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paper
Class Participation: Participation and discussion in this course is mandatory. Have at least one item (on style,
content, or simply a specific question) checked on EVERY SINGLE PAGE of the reading in preparation to
comment. I will be calling on you to participate. Failure to refer to an item on the page we are discussing will result
in a check in my grade book and several checks will affect your final grade. This class is your job; work and other
activities are not valid excuses for missing. If you miss more than four times, you can be dropped from the class. On
the rare occasions when you miss class, email or call me that day to find out what you missed.
Drafts: You can email me about ten lines of writing at a time for comment and no more until after it is emailed
back to you. Then you can send it back corrected or send a different ten lines or so. Once papers are due and
graded, there is no rewriting so do not procrastinate and get feedback early.
Paper Submission and Grading Policy: You must be in attendance for the full class period or your work is
considered late, but do not miss class if your paper is not ready. Essays can be submitted up to two days late but
your work is penalized one whole grade each day after the due date. After the two-day late period, papers probably
won’t be accepted. “Days” means weekdays and not just class meeting days. No email submissions of final drafts.
Follow MLA guidelines for submission format. I believe in the worth of grades for writing quality, but in this class
(as opposed to English 100 and 101) you are also graded on your demonstrated appreciation of the literature. I never
give a grade on the basis of effort or on my personal feelings towards a student’s character. Grades are based solely
on achievement and on improvement. You can take literature classes at OCC CR/NCR but this is not
recommended if you are transferring as an English major.
On profanity, sex, violence, ultra-conservatism, radical liberalism. I am a very tolerant person. For instance, I
believe profanity is usually unacceptable in writing but it has its place. Writers write about everything in life,
especially about problems, including problems involving sex and violence. I do not see it as my place to come down
on anyone for his or her position on controversial issues. Every subject and position deserves serious attention as
well as to be satirized, both attitudes having proper times and audiences and demand different writing skills. We
might be offended by what a writer is saying but that has nothing to do with how well a writer writes. We are all
offended by different things. People who are intolerant offend me.
Student Learning Outcomes: There are three outcomes from taking this class: (1) Identify the defining traits, such
as literary themes and techniques, of early American literary works. (2) Explain the significant historical,
philosophical, cultural, and aesthetic influences of early American literature. (3) Write analytical arguments about
works of early American writers.
WORK SCHEDULE
Do Adios reading for the Tuesday of each week.
The World Recreated
WEEKS 1-2
The Bible: Genesis Chapter 1-5
Adios: 10-28; 206-221
Native American Creation Myths
Ben Franklin’s “. . . the Savages of North America”
James Fenimore Cooper’s The Pioneers (chapters)
Melville’s Moby Dick (Cluster I, 136 pages)
Slavery Interrupted
WEEKS 3-5
Adios: 29-62; 63-79; 222-236
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (chapters) Assignment 1 due week 3
Harriet Ann Jacobs’ Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (chapters)
Twain’s Huckleberry Finn
Melville’s Moby Dick (Cluster II, III 48 pages)
Time & Space Consecrated
Adios: from the Form unit: to be announced
WEEKS 6-7
Assignment 2 due week 6
Whitman’s selected poems (reference to Alan Ginsberg)
Thoreau’s Walden
Melville’s Moby Dick (Cluster IV, V, VI 88 pages)
Psychology Crafted
WEEKS 8-12
Hawthorne’s “Short Stories”
Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart”
Henry James’ Daisy Miller and Beast in the Jungle
Meditations Slanted
Adios: from the Form unit: to be announced
Assignment 3 due week 8
Adios: from the Form unit: to be announced
Assignment 4 due week 13
WEEK 13
Anne Bradstreet’s selected poems
Edward Taylor’s selected poems (reference to John Donne)
Emily Dickinson’s selected poems
Melville’s Moby Dick (Cluster VII, 76 pages)
God Reconsidered
WEEKS 14-16 The Gospel of Mark
Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason”
Emerson’s “Divinity School Address”
Native American Speeches: W. Apess, Chief Seattle
Melville’s Moby Dick (Clusters VIII, 88 pages)
Adios: from the Form unit: to be announced
Assignment 5 due week 15 or 16
AD
Porno that is politically correct, savage whiteys, how-the-earth-started slaps at the Bible, a
woman unraveling in wall paper patterns, a smart ass ingenue and a poisonous daughter we can
love, sharing in a man and woman’s love juice, a heart that gives away a killer, burning down the
house for God, a funeral in the brain, putting a bullet in sentimentality, Jesus remade. It all
happens in my English 150, American literature course.
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