336 Early American Literature to Mid-19th Century TTh 9:00
DESCRIPTION/OBJECTIVES: This course provides an historical and critical overview of “American” literatures from narratives of exploration and colonial settlement through the Civil War. After a discussion of early forms and genres (Indigenous oratory and story cycles; Puritan sermon, poetry, captivity narrative) we will consider Toni Morrison’s A Mercy as both a portrait of the historical complexity and diversity of 17th Century “America” and a critical analysis of the economic and psychic drives through which settlement took place. We will read her analysis as well of the ways that “American” self-definition formed in relation to an Africanist presence along with narratives and essays concerning Native-Settler relations, as well as settler attempts to define a new “Americanness,” such as Hector St. John Crevecouer’s Letters From an American Farmer. It is out of this historical matrix that an “American” print and reading culture began emerged dramatically in the 19th century, whose forms included slave and ship narratives; sermons, orations, and political essays, anti-racist (William Apess), feminist (Margaret Fuller), and abolitionist (David Walker). We will read selections from canonical 19th century literature that address ethical quandaries relating to slavery, gender roles, industrial capitalism, and expansion, ranging from Yellow Bird (John Rollin Ridge’s) Joaquin Murrieta, Henry David Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Disobedience,” and Herman Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener.” Finally, we will spend a few weeks on Herman’s Melville’s Moby-Dick, a work which incorporates several genres in pursuing the meaning of pre-Civil War America.
REQUIRED TEXTS (available at Revolution Books) will include Frederick Douglass, A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass; Yellow Bird (John Rollins Ridge, Life and Adventures of Joaquin Murrieta; Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; Toni Morrison, A Mercy, and a course pack supplemented by essays posted onto Laulima, which will function as the course worksite.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS: This is primarily a reading and discussion class. There will be daily short in-class writings relating to the reading (these will triple as attendance, practice in writing, and conversation starters) and short oral presentations; these will count for 25% of the final grade, along with two period-long exams (20%), and a final examination (35%).