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This course has two primary ends: 1. to introduce students to some of the significant literature written in North America in the nineteenth century; 2. to enable & encourage students to examine that literature through an investigation of a preoccupation shared by many of the period's writers: the relations of meaning & being, of significance & selfhood.

We will begin our inquiry by looking at signs and signification, proceed to an examination of the peculiar sign 'self'--its various contexts & repesentations--& then turn to two texts that bring these matters together in quite different ways. While this description provides you with an idea of the framework I've set up for the course, it is crucial that you be mindful that the actual running of the course has much to do with your own intellectual needs & pursuits. You, therefore, will be responsible, through your participation, for making "American Literature 1825-1865" significant. This responsibility includes:

° Discussion: each Thursday, we will begin by working together in small groups; this work will then be presented to the class as a whole.

° Protocols: due Tuesdays at the beginning of class, these are experimental writings that respond in some way to the reading. The protocol must be typed & must not exceed one page.

° Midterm: a five page essay on a topic to be announced, due 12 March. [N.B.: an optional second essay (five pages, due 16 April) can be submitted by those wishing to further investigate issues raised in the readings, develop argumentative writing skills, and/or improve upon the midterm grade.]

° Final Paper: a ten page essay on a topic (to be chosen by student) that explores concerns that emerge from the context of the course, due 12 May.

Grade distribution: Participation (attending all meetings, completing all readings, taking part in all discussions, turning in all protocols) = 25%, midterm = 25%, final paper = 50%.

5 Feb. Introduction

10 Feb. "A Short Essay on Critics" (1616-1620); "American Literature; Its Position in the Present Time, & Prospects for the Future" (1655-1662); "MS. Found in a Bottle" (1364-1371)

12 Feb. "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1382-1395); "The Masque of the Red Death"; "The Tell-Tale Heart" (1402-1410)

17 Feb. "The Purloined Letter" (1410-1423) 19 Feb. The Scarlet Letter

24 Feb. The Scarlet Letter

26 Feb. The Scarlet Letter

3 Mar. "Circles" (1558-1566); "The Life of Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh" (1484-1497)

5 Mar. "Where I Lived, & What I Lived For" (2029-2039)

10 Mar. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl; "Hints to Young Wives" (1949-1950); "Independence" (1954-1955); "The Working-Girls of New York" (1955-1956); "Reminiscences by Frances D. Gage of Soujourner Truth, for May 28-29, 1851" (1959-1961); "Speech at New York City Convention" (1961-1962); "Address to the First Annual Meeting of the American Equal Rights Association" (1962-1963)

12 Mar. "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man" (1782-1786); "Quinney's Speech" (1789-1792); "An Address to the Whites" (1794-1801); "Oppression of Digger Indians" (1803-1804); "The Atlantic Cable" (1804-1806); "The Stolen White Girl" (1807); "A Scene Along the Rio de la Plumas" (1808-1810) *MIDTERM DUE*

17 Mar. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

19 Mar. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

31 Mar. Selected Poetry

2 Apr. Selected Poetry

7 Apr. Moby-Dick

9 Apr. Moby-Dick

14 Apr. Moby-Dick

16 Apr. Moby-Dick *OPTIONAL ESSAY DUE*

21 Apr. Moby-Dick

23 Apr. Moby-Dick

28 Apr. The Morgesons

30 Apr. The Morgesons

5 May The Morgesons

7 May The Morgesons