This course will center on the “American Renaissance” – that period
between, roughly, 1830 and 1870 that witnessed the burst of intense
intellectual and artistic energy that produced some of the most memorable and
enduring American literature. We will examine
as much of that literature as we can, in a range of genres: slave narratives from Frederick Douglass and
Harriet Jacobs, essays from Emerson and Thoreau, novels from Harriet Beecher
Stowe, Herman Melville, Nathaniel Hawthorne and others, poetry from Walt
Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Our goal in
examining these works will always be double:
on the simplest level, we will be interested in how these writers
interpreted and responded to the places and times in which they lived; on a
deeper level, though, we will consider how each of these works – and all of
them together – attempts to create something we might call now an “American
consciousness,” attempts to invent, or to re-invent, America.
The point of the course is to read as much as we can,
more than anything else – to develop a firm understanding of both canonical and
non-canonical 19th century American literature, and to consider how
that literature has helped to shape not just the literature that followed it,
but the way we think about ourselves as Americans. This
will NOT be a writing seminar: it will involve far too much reading for
that. Consider this fair warning: the reading load for this class will be heavy
– averaging 250 pages a week. Students still working on the Writing Requirement, or students taking
another heavy reading or writing course, should take this course another time.
Required Texts
·
Emerson,
The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo
Emerson
·
Thoreau,
Walden
·
Jacobs,
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
·
Douglass,
Narrative of the Life of Frederick
Douglass
·
Melville,
Moby Dick
·
Stowe,
Uncle Tom’s Cabin
·
·
Whitman,
The Complete Poems
·
This course will be
reading-centered, so the chief requirement is that you make a commitment to
keeping up with the reading, and that you come to class prepared to discuss
what you have read. You will also be
asked to write a two-page (and no more than two-page) reading response for
every class: that will amount to a
substantial pile of writing by the end of the semester, but spread out in small
stages. At times I will assign topics
for these responses, but more often I’ll allow you to respond in whatever way
seems appropriate to you, as long as you keep your responses focused on the
texts you’re reading. The idea is to
develop your own written conversation with the authors you’re reading: so, while I don’t expect “formal papers” –
i.e., researched and lengthy – I do expect you to write clear, articulate and
original responses to the texts and to the things people are saying about
them. This daily writing will often form
the basis for our class discussions, and will be graded on a check/plus/minus
basis.
As much as
is possible, I would like our class discussions to be student-led and
student-generated. With that in mind, I
will divide the class into groups in the first week, and groups will rotate
responsibility for centering class discussions and directing outside reading.
Your grade
for the course will be based on the following percentages:
·
Daily
response papers 50%
·
Discussion
leadership and 30%
participation in class discussions
·
Average
BTU of inner fire 20%