American Literature from the Colonial Period to the Civil War
ENGL 203
Fall 2011
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 155 |
In this survey of American literature from the first European contact to the U.S. Civil War, we will read celebrated novels, stories, and poems alongside historic letters, speeches, and memoirs that will help us grapple with a question raised in the 18th-century: "what, then, is an American, this new man." We will expand the scope of this question (who gets to be considered an American and by whom?) and consider a range of contradictory representations that depict America and the United States as a land of promise and brutal conflict, as a "contact zone" that inspires collaboration as well as violent contention.
Throughout the course we will pay close attention to conversations between texts, to expressive form, and to the different ways that literary genres and conventions articulate the aspirations, conflicts, and contradictions that each text reveals. Close reading will help us discern the importance of how a text is written in determining what it means. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Interpretation, Writing
Students will sharpen their interpretive abilities through careful reading and directed writing assignments.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(ENGL)(ENGL-Literature) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
: Will include works by Columbus, Cabeza de Vaca, Winthrop, Rowlandson, Franklin, Wheatley, Cooper, Irving, Weaver, Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, Poe, Douglass, Jacobs, Brown, Whitman, and Dickinson.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Examination and Assignments: Weekly reading responses and discussion questions, one analytical paper (5-7pp.), mid-term and final exam. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
This course contributes to the American Literature concentration of the English major and is recommended by the American Studies major as a pre-1900 course that introduces students to a wide range of cultural and historical as well as literary concerns. |
| Instructor(s): Baraw,Charles Times: .M.W.F. 12:00PM-12:50PM; Location: JUDD116; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 65 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 1 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 5 | JR non-major: 5 | SO: 27 | FR: 18 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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