Fall 2009

English 343-001

Survey of American Literature to 1860

Prof. Philip F. Gura gura@email.unc.edu

Greenlaw 426 962-4033

Text: Nina Baym et al., The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7t^th ed. (Package 1).

Course Description and Requirements: This is a chronological survey of American literature, broadly conceived, from the period of English settlement through the poetry of Dickinson and Whitman. Students are expected to familiarize themselves not only with the texts but also with the development of the varieties of American literature over time (including biographical information about authors). Some of this material will be covered in class, but I will take some of the exam questions from the introductory sections of the Anthology.

There will be two-in-class examinations (October 6^th and November 3rd), an eight-to-ten page paper on a topic I choose (due in class November 24th), and a final examination. The in-class exams will have two parts: an essay section, with questions handed out earlier and your essays handed in at the exam time, and shorter answers, written in class. Attendance and class participation are expected. After your fourth unexcused absence, I will start deducting from your final grade.

Plagiarism: The Honor Code is in effect in this class and all others at the University. I am committed to treating Honor Code violations seriously and urge all students to become familiar with its terms (http://instrument.unc.edu). If you have questions, it is your responsibility to ask me about the code’s application. All exams and other written work must be submitted with a statement that you have complied with the requirements of the Honor Code.

Readings/Schedule:

August 25 and 27: Introduction. Definitions and terms. Period of Contact and Exploration. (non-required reading: Volume A: 31-55). Colonization: The Chesapeake. Volume A: 48-71.

Sept. 1 and 3: Colonization: New England. Volume A: 104-137, 144-66.

September 8 and 10: New England Puritanism: Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor. Volume A: 187-216, 267-287.

September 15 and 17: New England Puritanism: Second and Third Generations. Native Americans and Witches. Volume A: 235-266, 307-342.

September 22 and 24: The Eighteenth Century: Religion and National Character. Volume A: 384-436, 587-94.

September 29 and Oct. 1: The Eighteenth Century: Volume A: 472-534, 595-615, 674-710.

Oct. 6 and 8: In-class exam Oct. 6^th; Early Romanticism (Irving, Cooper, Bryant. Volume B: 951-1009, 1044-1051.

October 13 and 15 Romantics: Poe, and Emerson and the Transcendentalists. Volume B: 1543-1588, 1106-1251.

October 20: Continue Emerson reading.

October 22: NO CLASS: FALL BREAK.

October 27 and 29: Henry David Thoreau. Volume B: 1853-1924, 2027-2046.

Paper topics handed out.

November 3 and 5: In-class exam Nov. 3rd; Nathaniel Hawthorne. Volume B: 1272-1352.

November 10 and 12: Continue Hawthorne, and Herman Melville. Volume B: 2304-2320, 2363-2388, 2468-2524.

November 17 and 19: Continue Melville. Other Versions of the American Self (Douglass and Apess). Volume B: 2060-2140, 1051-1058.

November 24: Whitman, Volume B: 2195-2266. 2275-2296. Paper due in class.

November 26: No class. Thanksgiving Break.

December 1 and 3: Dickinson. Selections announced in class.

December 8: Summary and Review.

English 843-001: Fall 2009

Reloading the Canon: Antebellum Fiction

Prof. Philip F. Gura Greenlaw 426

gura@email.unc.edu 962-4033

We focus on the practical results of canon revision for the period 1798-1862, specifically regarding fiction. Writers such as Hawthorne and Melville have long been held up as pioneers in an American prose tradition because of the ways in which they constructed the genre of the American “romance.” We will reexamine these writers’ achievement in light of, for example, the historical fiction of Catharine Sedgwick, a serious challenger to James Fenimore Cooper and William Gilmore Simms; the “domestic” fiction of Fanny Fern and Maria Cummins, who raised questions about the vagaries of woman’s place in antebellum America; and the psychological fiction of Elizabeth Stoddard, who rivaled Hawthorne and Melville and anticipated Henry James in her analyses of human motivation. We also will read examples of the masculine sentimental tradition, reform literature, and early African American fiction. We will keep before us the question of what difference it makes to our teaching and writing if we add to our reading lists such hitherto “forgotten” authors.

Requirements: Each student will be responsible for brief in-class reports on secondary material relating to the week’s reading. In addition, there will be a substantial research paper on a topic to be negotiated with the instructor. The topic must relate to fiction in the period covered in the course.

Required Texts:

Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland

Hannah Foster, The Coquettte

Catharine Maria Sedgwick, Hope Leslie

Sarah Parton Willis (Fanny Fern). Ruth Hall

Maria Cummins, The Lamplighter

Herman Melville, Pierre

Elizabeth Stoddard, The Morgesons

Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

The Blithedale Romance

Harriet Wilson, Our Nig

Paul Gutjarhr, ed., Popular American Literature of the Nineteenth Century

Assignments:

August 26th: Introduction.

Sept. 2^nd : Foster, The Coquette.

Sept. 9^th; Brown, Wieland.

Sept. 16^th: Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter.

Sept. 23^rd: Sedgwick, Hope Leslie.

Sept. 30th: Donald Grant Mitchell, Reveries of a Bachelor and Timothy Shay Arthur, Ten Nights in a Bar-Room (in Gutjahr).

Oct. 7^th: Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance.

Oct. 14^th: Cummins, The Lamplighter..

Oct. 21^st: NO CLASS—FALL BREAK

Oct. 28^th: Harriet E. Wilson, Our Nig.

Nov. 4^th: Sarah Parton Willis (Fanny Fern), Ruth Hall.

Nov. 11^th: Melville, Pierre.

Nov. 18^th: Pierre (continued).

Nov. 25^th: NO CLASS--THANKSGIVING.

Dec. 2^nd: Stoddard, The Morgesons.

Dec. 9^th: Valedictory and Celebration.