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Fall 1998 |
Rice 110 (x6726) |
In his essay "Experience" (1844), Ralph Waldo Emerson refers obliquely to "this new yet unapproachable America." The phrase comes a century & a half before us, & two centuries after the writing of the period we will be considering; but it is nevertheless a timely utterance, for it implies some of the problems -as well as some of the opportunities - that greet those who would inquire into the beginnings of America & its literature. That America might be "new" in 1844 proposes that it might be "new" again in 1998; it also calls into question just how new America was in 1620, & in the process provocatively suggests that the nature of the past & the present cannot be taken lightly. Indeed, the relations between history, time, & interpretation are complex enough that America was & is, in some ways, unapproachable. How, then, are these complicated obstacles to be sufficiently overcome, such that we might become able to make sense of American literature of the 17th- & 18th-century? That question, my good students, is the very stuff of this course.
Like much of the historical period with which it is concerned, "Finding, Founding, & Figuring" is an experiment. We will attempt to discover what we can about early America & its literature, & this attempt will involve learning how to think about & interpret historical texts- which, as Emerson's suggestive problematizing of time & epistemology indicates, is decidedly more complicated than simply looking back on a static & comprehensible body of writing & objectively knowing it. We will be reading texts that, in many instances, will prove quite strange (even offensive) to our sensibilities. How best to approach these texts & what we can accomplish by reading them comprise a significant aspect of our course of study. One of the course's premises - that finding, founding, figuiring do not happen in order - requires that we use these terms as framing devices or points of departure; as such, they lead to other terms, which I have collected in the following table.
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By moving among these terms, using imagination, developing interpretive skills, & engaging the concepts that emerge from the interactions between terms & texts, we will do more than comprehend or judge early American literature. My hope is nothing less than that we will learn from these textual encounters - about America, literature, & ourselves.
Student Work
Along with completing all readings by assigned dates, students will be responsible for the following-
1. Group Questions: Thursday discussions will be based on three questions generated by student groups (1 group per week). The questions will be typed, copied, & distributed at the beginning of class period, & the question-generating group will be expected to help lead discussion.
2. Protocols (5): 1-2 pages (front & back), 1" margins, single-spaced. These brief, exploratory, experimental writings on assigned topics should indicate richness of engagement with texts & attention to rhetorical efficacy.
3. Quizes (3): 10 short-answer questions on readings. These should demonstrate careful attention to details of texts.
4. Thanksgiving oration: 3-minute exhortations that connect readings to contemporary issues, observations, prayers, critiques, proposals, etc.
5. Midterm Project: a prospectus (5-7 pages) for final research project, including a briefly annotated bibliography of primary & secondary texts. Should include a thorough introduction to the topic, description of salient aspects, possible approaches, etc. Each student will present a report (5-10 minutes) describing her or his project to the class.
6. Research Project (due 17 Dec.): 15-20 page essay, on a topic of the student's own devising, which treats with an aspect of Early American Literature & problems in the study thereof.
Grades: 1-4 (25%), 5 (25%), 6 (50%).
Reading List
Reserve List
Almanac
"Native American Mythology" (EAW 3-19); "A Voyage to New England," John Josselyn & "A Voyage to Virginia," Henry Norwood (AB 19-66)*; "Introduction" to Travels (13-25) and "Anecdotes of an American Crow" (573-6), William Bartram*; A Key into the Language of America, Roger Williams (17-78, 109-19)*; New England's Prospect, William Wood (TIL 95-106)*; QUIZ
Female Quixotism: Exhibited in the Romantic Opinions & Extravagant Adventures of Dorcasina Sheldon, Tabitha Tenney; Modern Chivalry, Hugh Henry Brackenridge (EAW 523-31); PROTOCOL
"Personal Narrative," Jonathan Edwards*; "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards (EAW 320-33); LIBRARY RESEARCH
"The Farewell Address to the People of the United States," George Washington (EAW 417-29); Selections, Thomas Jefferson (EAW 442-447); "What Is an American?" J. Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur (EAW 473-9); Letters, Abigail Adams (EAW 502-9); "On the Equality of the Sexes," Judith Sargent Murray (EAW 548-55); The Federalist Papers Nos. 1 & 10 (EAW 537-47); Selections, Philip Freneau (EAW 559-564); Selections, Phillis Wheatley (EAW 565-9); "The Hasty Pudding," Joel Barlow (EAW 577-87); QUIZ
The Diary of Michael Wigglesworth; Poems, Anne Bradstreet (EAW 175-92); Poems, Edward Taylor (EAW 231-44); PROTOCOL
Common Sense, Thomas Paine; Selections, Paine (EAW 485-9, 490-4); Poor Richard's Almanack, Benjamin Franklin*; Selections, Franklin (EAW 348-362); PROTOCOL
Wieland; or The Transformation, Charles Brockden Brown; PROTOCOL
New England Primer (RAL 88-92)*; "The Sotweed Factor," Ebenezer Cooke (NAAL 173-90)*; Of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford (EAW 123-36); The New English Canaan, Thomas Morton (EAW 138-46); God's Promise to His Plantations, John Cotton (EAW 102-3); "The Covenant of Grace," Thomas Shepard (EAW 170-4); QUIZ
A True History of the Captivity & Restoration of Mary Rowlandson (CAA 19-69); The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (CAA 70-228); The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Oloudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself (EAW 510-22); PROTOCOL
"North American Indian Oratory" (EAW 405-13); "Remarkable Providences" (AB 111-66)*; ORATIONS
group meetings
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The English Department welcomes your Questions or Comments regarding
this site--
e-mail The English
Department Web Master
