American Literature, Beginnings to 1900
Engl 30133, Sec. 035, Fall Semester 2012
This course surveys American literature from 1620 to 1900. We will read a variety of literary texts published in the seventeenth century, the eighteenth century, and the nineteenth century, including both canonical and non-canonical texts. In our discussions we will consider both what is “American” and what is “literature.” In addition to more recognizable literary authors, we will read texts produced by a wide variety of writers of different contexts and backgrounds, such as Spanish explorers, English Puritans, colonial adventurers, Revolutionary and Civil War soldiers, transcendental thinkers, Native Americans, and African Americans. Along with the different texts, we will discuss their different cultural contexts, since profound shifts in thinking and perception occurred during this time frame.
8/21,
introduction
8/23, Th
De Crevecoeur, from Letters from an American Farmer, “Letter III, What Is an American,” “Letter IX, Description of Charles-Town,” 310-324
8/28, T
Harriot, from A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, from “Of the Nature and Manners of the People,” 37-42
8/30, Th
Puritanism in New England, William Bradford, John Winthrop, and Various Handouts; Bradstreet, Selected Poetry, 106-114
9/4, T
Rowlandson, from A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mary Rowlandson, 118-122, 126-134.; Mather, from The Wonders of the Invisible World, 144-149
9/6, Th
No class—library research
9/11, T
Herman Melville, 1174-1175 and Sonnet 55
9/13, Th
Franklin, Various Handouts; from The Autobiography, 231-292
9/18, T
Franklin, from The Autobiography, 231-292
9/20, Th
Paine, from Common Sense, 326-332, handout for The Age of Reason; Jefferson, from The Declaration of Independence, 342-346.
9/25, T
Equiano, from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, 357-368
9/ 27, Th
Irving, “Rip Van Winkle,” 455-466
take-home midterms distributed
10/2, T
in-class midterm exam given
10/4, Th
Freneau, Selected Poetry, 416-419, Bryant, Selected Poetry, 477-479; Longfellow, 645-646
take-home midterms due
10/9, T
Fall Break
10/11, Th
Emerson, “Self-Reliance,” 532-550
10/16, T
Thoreau, from Walden: handout on “Economy,” “Where I Lived, and What I Lived for,” 886-896
10/18,Th
Apess, “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man,” 483-488
10/23, T
Hawthorne, “Young Goodman Brown,” 605-614
10/25, Th
Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, 931-937, 942-950, 953-963 (end of Covey sequence)
10/30, T
Poe, “The Tell-Tale Heart,” 702-705, “The Cask of Amontillado,” find online
11/1, Th
Whitman, Selected Poetry, TBA
11/6, T
Dickinson, Selected Poetry, TBA
11/8, Th
Twain, “Journalism in Tennessee,” “Diary of Adam and Eve,” find online
11/13, T
Bret Harte, “The Luck of Roaring Camp,” 1484-1491
11/15, Th
Kate Chopin, “Desiree’s Baby,” 1615-1619; Charles Chesnutt, “The Wife of His Youth,” 1640-1648
11/20, T
library research
11/22, Th
Thanksgiving Break
11/ 27, M
Gilman, “The Yellow Wall–paper,” 831-845
11/29, Th
final presentations
12/4, T
final presentations
Policies and Requirements.
Course Objectives: This course is intended to familiarize students with a variety of early American texts and authors. Students should gain an understanding of the lines of literary development and the different periods, styles, and characteristics of these literary developments. In addition, students should gain an insight into the various cultural contexts and issues that surrounded the texts and authors. Finally, as an intellectual exercise requiring a lot of reading and writing, this course is intended to provide students with considerable practice in these most basic and invaluable skills.
Course Requirements:
1) Blogging: To document your reading experiences, you are required to keep an online journal or weblog. With the help of technology at Blogger (http://www.blogger.com?), you will build your own web log, or “blog,” and keep an electronic journal of your experiences as a student reading a wide variety of American literary texts, and more generally as a young adult living in a complicated world. You will be expected to write a brief one- to two-page response for each of your 8 (or more) class readings. You do not have to comment on each of the assigned texts, but by the end of the semester you should have responded to a minimum of 8 class readings, and you are free to choose which days you respond to.
What you write is up to you. You do not have to write a full literary analysis, analyzing the relationships of plot, character, and setting. I would prefer that you examine your reading experience. What happened when you read the texts? How—and why--did you respond to what you read? How did the texts affect you? What did you think was interesting or significant; what were your reactions, feelings, and thoughts as you encountered the text? Blogs must be posted on the day the texts are discussed in class; late responses cannot be accepted.
You are also welcome to use your blog to reflect on your experiences throughout the semester, commenting on whatever moves you to write. But please remember that a blog is not a personal—and private—diary.
Blogging is a less formal form of writing than an essay, and thus blogs are a good forum to reflect, analyze, vent, explore, and consider. But blogs are also a more public form of writing and, because of the technology, an excellent way of sharing, collaborating, and responding. In addition to posting your own blog entries, you will also be required to post brief responses of around 50 to 75 words to a minimum of 8 other course blogs throughout the semester. You are welcome to comment on any of the other course blogs, but please vary the blogs you respond to. Please do not respond to the same blog (and person).
Please keep in mind that blogs are a public forum, accessible to anyone who has internet access, so please do not post anything that you would not share with the classroom and internet communities.
We will use our course blogs as an open dialogue to reflect on our experiences in American Literature to 1900.
The minimum requirement? 8 blog entries (paragraph to a page) and 8 responses to other course blogs.
2) Lead Respondent Assignment: Throughout the semester students will be asked to help lead our discussions, and these discussion-leader assignments may be undertaken individually or in small groups (maximum of 3). Each individual or group will choose a text and will be expected to make a presentation to the class on it. These presentations may include biographical or historical information about author, the text’s composition, summaries of the text’s print history and reception, and analysis of themes and issues. More importantly, these presentations should also include a brief discussion of what the individual (or group) thinks is significant and/or relevant in the text and a list of questions for discussion. These presentations should be informative and provocative. Yet at the same time they should also be enjoyable! I encourage you to consider creative suggestions for stimulating interest and arousing attention. Dramatizations may be videotaped, parts of texts acted out, and character roles performed. Multimedia presentations are always welcome. You should think about how you can make these presentations engaging.
A brief handout summarizing key points, pertinent information, and listing the questions for discussion is required
3) Library Research. On two occasions during the term (9/09, 11/20), students will be required to conduct original research in the library. Students will be asked to familiarize themselves with a historical journal or newspaper and scan several issues, looking for interesting items or issues. Closely focused reading (reading every word) is not necessary, but students should read enough of the journal or newspaper to get a good sense of its contents. Previous to the research days I will distribute a list of journals and newspapers for specific years. To document their research, students will be asked to submit a two-page response about what they read or discovered in their journal or newspaper. In these responses students will not only be expected to reflect on what they read but also to comment on the overall nature of their chosen publication.
4) Midterm and Final Exams. There will be comprehensive midterm and final exams. Each exam will have two parts. The first part will be a take-home essay. The second part will be an in-class exercise that will be given on specified exam days. The essays will be your most polished and sophisticated writing for the course. During the in-class exams familiarity with the assigned texts and authors is expected.
5) Short Writing Assignments. Students will be often asked to write on a short question or quotation in class. Students will be expected to demonstrate their understanding of the questions or quotations. These assignments will be used to aid class discussions and will not be formally graded, but they will be collected and count towards the final grade.
6) Final Presentations: For your final assignment, I would like you to put
together a multimodal project that presents a reflection of your thoughts, observations, and experiences throughout the semester. Consider what you have learned that was interesting, striking, or memorable. These projects may include photographs, videos, sketches, recordings, music, prose, and poetry. You may use Power Point or present a video, or use other forms of multimodal presentation. Please be as creative as you like. As with the lead-respondent presentations, please consider how to engage your audience’s attention. Along with your presentation, you must submit a 2 to 4 page justification of your presentation. These projects may be done individually or in small groups (maximum of 3). If done as a group project, each person's individual contributions must be apparent.
7) Participation and Attendance: I am not formally setting an attendance
policy, and you are responsible for your own attendance. I caution you, however, to keep in mind that the blog entries, in-class writing, and in-class activities cannot be made up (or turned in late). Also, please keep in mind that active participation is a course requirement and weak participation will lower your final grade. Both written and verbal contributions will count towards participation.
8) A sense of humor and an appreciation of irony are required.
Grading Scale:
blogging 20%
midterm 20%
final 20%
lead-respondent presentations 15%
final presentations 15%
library projects 5%
in-class writing 5%
I take pride in working closely with students. I will make myself available whenever necessary. If you have questions or problems with the course, or your studies in general, please let me know.
Required Text: The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Shorter Seventh Edition
Dan Williams
Reed 414D and TCU Press (3000 Sandage)
817-257-6250, 817-257-7822
Office Hours: Friday, 10 to 12 AM, and by appointment
Academic Conduct:
An academic community requires the highest standards of honor and integrity in all of its participants if it is to fulfill its missions. In such a community faculty, students, and staff are expected to maintain high standards of academic conduct. The purpose of this policy is to make all aware of these expectations. Additionally, the policy outlines some, but not all, of the situations which can arise that violate these standards. Further, the policy sets forth a set of procedures, characterized by a "sense of fair play," which will be used when these standards are violated. In this spirit, definitions of academic misconduct are listed below. These are not meant to be exhaustive.
I. ACADEMIC MISCONDUCT
Any act that violates the spirit of the academic conduct policy is considered academic misconduct. Specific examples include, but are not limited to:
A. Cheating. Includes, but is not limited to:
1. Copying from another student's test paper, laboratory report, other report, or computer files and listings.
2. Using in any academic exercise or academic setting, material and/or devices not authorized by the person in charge of the test.
3. Collaborating with or seeking aid from another student during an academic exercise without the permission of the person in charge of the exercise.
4. Knowingly using, buying, selling, stealing, transporting, or soliciting in its entirety or in part, the contents of a test or other assignment unauthorized for release.
5. Substituting for another student, or permitting another student to substitute for oneself, in a manner that leads to misrepresentation of either or both students work.
B. Plagiarism. The appropriation, theft, purchase, or obtaining by any means another's work, and the unacknowledged submission or incorporation of that work as one's own offered for credit. Appropriation includes the quoting or paraphrasing of another's work without giving credit therefore.
C. Collusion. The unauthorized collaboration with another in preparing work offered for credit.
D. Abuse of resource materials. Mutilating, destroying, concealing, or stealing such materials.
E. Computer misuse. Unauthorized or illegal use of computer software or hardware through the TCU Computer Center or through any programs, terminals, or freestanding computers owned, leased, or operated by TCU or any of its academic units for the purpose of affecting the academic standing of a student.
F. Fabrication and falsification. Unauthorized alteration or invention of any information or citation in an academic exercise. Falsification involves altering information for use in any academic exercise. Fabrication involves inventing or counterfeiting information for use in any academic exercise.
G. Multiple submission. The submission by the same individual of substantial portions of the same academic work (including oral reports) for credit more than once in the same or another class without authorization.
H. Complicity in academic misconduct. Helping another to commit an act of academic misconduct.
I. Bearing false witness. Knowingly and falsely accusing another student of academic misconduct.
Disabilities Statement:
Texas Christian University complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 regarding students with disabilities. Eligible students seeking accommodations should contact the Coordinator of Services for Students with Disabilities in the Center for Academic Services located in Sadler Hall, 11. Accommodations are not retroactive, therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the term for which they are seeking accommodations. Further information can be obtained from the Center for Academic Services, TCU Box 297710, Fort Worth, TX 76129, or at (817) 257-7486.
Adequate time must be allowed to arrange accommodations and accommodations are not retroactive; therefore, students should contact the Coordinator as soon as possible in the academic term for which they are seeking accommodations. Each eligible student is responsible for presenting relevant, verifiable, professional documentation and/or assessment reports to the Coordinator. Guidelines for documentation may be found at http://www.acs.tcu.edu/DISABILITY.HTM.
Students with emergency medical information or needing special arrangements in case a building must be evacuated should discuss this information with their instructor/professor as soon as possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment