Katharina Fackler (PT 3.2.85)
Office Hours: Wed. 14-15, Thurs. 11-12
Email: [email protected]
Wednesday 1-2 pm, W 113
Review American Literature
Topics / Texts
Key Terms
Apr.
9
Introduction, Course Organization, Requirements
Colonizing ‘America’
Smith (NA A: 83–99); Las Casas (NA A: 38–42)
Native Am. oral tradition;
promotional lit.; ethno-centrism;
charter colony
Apr.
16
Writings from Puritan New England
Bradford (NA A: 122–56) = Of Plymouth Plantation;
Winthrop (NA A: 166–77) = “A Model of Christian Charity”
Rowlandson (NA A: 257–88) = A Narrative of the Captivity . . .
Calvinism / covenant;
providential history;
typology;
captivity narrative
Documents of the American Revolution
Paine (NA A: 641–47) = from Common Sense, from Ch. III
“Declaration…” (NA A: 661–67) = Thomas Jefferson, Decl. of
Independence as found in his Autobiography
Crèvecoeur (NA A: 605–14) = Letters from an American Farmer,
from Letter III
Jefferson (NA A: 676–77) = Notes on the State of Virginia, Query XIX
natural rights;
glorious contrast;
agrarian ideal;
American exceptionalism
Apr.
23
American Experiences and Autobiographical Writings
Franklin, Autobiography (NA A: 480–596, esp. Part I, four opening
paragraphs, and Part II in its entirety);
Jacobs (NA B: 921–42 = Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, chapters
I, VII, X, XIV, XXI, XLI); Douglass (NA B: 1174–1239 = Narrative of the
Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Written by Himself)
Autobiography/life writing;
slave narrative;
Protestant work ethic
Apr.
30
American Women Writers through 1900
Letters John Adams/Abigail Adams (NA A: 632–39 = letters of 3 July
1776, 14 July 1776, 20 July 1776, 21 July 1776); Murray (NA A: 739–
47 = On the Equality . . .); Gilman (NA C: 792–804 = “The Yellow
Wall-paper” and “Why I Wrote . . .”); Jewett (NA C: 526–33 = “A
White Heron”); Chopin (NA C: 557–61 = “The Storm”)
law of coverture;
separate spheres;
domesticity; Seneca Falls
Declaration of Sentiments and
Resolutions
May
7
The American Short Story in the Nineteenth Century
Irving (NA B: 29–41 = “Rip Van Winkle”); Poe (NA B: 654–67 = “The
Fall of the House of Usher”, 687–95 = “The Masque of the Red
Death,” “The Tell-Tale Heart”); Hawthorne (NA B: 386–95 = “Young
Goodman Brown”); Melville (NA B: 1483–1509 = “Bartleby, the
Scrivener”); Bierce (NA C: 399–410 = “An Occurrence at Owl Creek
Bridge” and “Chickamauga”)
Poe’s ‘theory’;
story of initiation;
(debate about) regionalism v. local
color
May American Novels through the American Renaissance
Foster (NA A: 818ff. = The Coquette, Letters I−IV);
14
Cooper (NA B: 988–1009 = The Pioneers, Vol. II, Chapters II, III; The
Last of the Mohicans, Vol. I, Ch. III);
Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter and
“Preface to The House of the Seven Gables” (NA B: 450–95)
epistolary novel;
historical novel;
sentimental novel;
romance/novel (Hawthorne)
May
21
American Transcendentalism and (Some of) Its Contexts
Emerson (NA B: 243–56 = “The American Scholar”, 269–86 = “SelfReliance”); Thoreau (NA B: 1023–33 = Walden, Ch. 2);
Whitman (NA B: 1314–29 = “Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855)”,
1330–74 = part of “Song of Myself,” focus on sections 1, 6, 15);
Dickinson (NA B: 1663–1704; focus on poems #202, #207, #236,
#260, #269, #340, #479, #519, #788, #1263)
literary/cultural nationalism;
Transcendentalism; free verse
May
28
American Realist and Naturalist Fiction
Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; James (NA C: 421–59 =
“Daisy Miller: A Study”); Crane (NA C: 946–89 = Maggie: A Girl of the
Streets)
realism, naturalism;
novel of manners;
international theme
June
4
Multicultural Writings in the First Half of the 20th Century
Bonnin [Zitkala Sa] (NA C: 1087–1100 = “Impressions of an Indian
Childhood,” ch.s I, II, IV, VII; “The School Days of an Indian Girl,” ch.s
I, II, V, VI, VII); Du Bois (NA C: 885–901 = The Souls of Black Folk,
“The Forethought” and ch.s I, III); Sui Sin Far (NA C: 865–73 = “Mrs.
Spring Fragrance”); McKay (NA D: 483–84 = “The Lynching,” “If We
Must Die,” “Africa,” “America”);
Hughes (NA D: 871–73 = “The Negro Speaks of Rivers,” “Mother to
Son,” “I, Too,” “The Weary Blues”);
Randolph Bourne, “Transnational America”:
melting pot ideologies;
assimilation/Americanization;
cultural pluralism (Kallen);
Harlem Renaissance
June
11
American Modernist Writings – Focus on Poetry and Fiction
Pound (NA D: 318 = “In a Station of the Metro”); Eliot (NA D: 368–71
= “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”); Moore (NA D: 359–60 =
“Poetry”); Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby; Hemingway, A Farewell to
Arms; Faulkner, As I Lay Dying (NA D: 698–793)
Modernism; Imagism;
iceberg theory;
Lost Generation;
stream of consciousness
June
18
Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century American Drama
Glaspell (NA D: 253–62 = Trifles); O’Neill, Emperor Jones;
Williams, Streetcar Named Desire (NA E: 93–155); Miller, Death of a
Salesman (NA E: 238–303); Shepard, True West (NA E: 870–909);
Margulies, Dinner with Friends
Provincetown Players;
one-act play;
expressionism;
“plastic theater” (Williams);
theater of the absurd
June
25
Samples of Contemporary American Literature, Part I
Postmodern Manifestos (NA E: 400–18); Anaya (NA E: 713–23 =
from Bless Me, Ultima: “Dos”); Alexie (NA E: 1172–86);
Anzaldúa (NA E: 837–49); Walker, “Everyday Use” (NA E : 920–27)
Postmodernism;
metafiction; neorealism
July
2
Samples of Contemporary American Literature, Part II
E.g. Walker, Color Purple; Morrison, Beloved; Tan, Joy Luck Club;
Cisneros, House on Mango Street or Caramelo; Franzen, Corrections
or Freedom; Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close; Eugenides,
Middlesex; Spiegelman, Maus
July
9
FINAL EXAM
(http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1/AIH19th/Bourne.html)
COURSE TEXTS
Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 8th Ed. New York: Norton 2012. Print.
Additional material may be found on G.R.I.P.S.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
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regular attendance (2 unexcused absences, 2 excused absences for serious reasons, written proof
required. Please note that you will be responsible for signing the attendance list before the end of class.)
in-class participation
short presentation
final exam
RECOMMENDED SOURCES
Recommended Dictionaries:
Abrams, Meyer H, and Geoffrey Harpham. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston: Wadsworth Cengage, 2012.
Print.
Baldick, Chris. Dictionary of Literary Terms. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.
Recommended Literary Histories
Seeber, Hans Ulrich. Englische Literaturgeschichte. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2012. Print.
Zapf, Hubert. Amerikanische Literaturgeschichte. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2010. Print.
Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed. Cambridge History of American Literature. Cambridge: CUP, 1994. Print.
Recommended Cultural History
Boyer, Paul, et al. Oxford Companion to United States History. New York: Oxford UP, 2001. Print.
Encyclopedia of American Studies. Ed. Simon J. Bronner. Web. (http://eas-ref.press.jhu.edu/)
Recommended Introductions to English and American Studies
Hebel, Udo J. Einführung in die Amerikanistik/American Studies. Stuttgart: Metzler, 2008. Print.
Recommended Handbook for Writers of Research Papers:
Gibaldi, Joseph. MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. 7th ed. New York: MLA, 2009. Print.
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For more specific topics see articles in databases (UR library homepage):
MLA database
America: History and Life