371. The Invention of American Literature
Augusta Rohrbach MW 11:00-12:15 King
243
Using a cultural studies approach to materials as varied as
advertisements and popular mass print media as well as works of
"literature," we will examine innovations in the publishing industry,
effects of the marketplace and the emergence of the cult of
authorship as a way to get to know U.S. literary history and how it
was/is made. Readings from canonical writers such as Hawthorne,
Stowe, Twain, Howells, James and Wharton, material in Mudd archives
and special collections as well as contemporary works that only exist
as hypertext in cyberspace.
Background Reading:
Buell, Lawrence. "Literary History a a Hybrid Genre" (xerox)
Cohen, Ralph. "Gernerating Literary Histories" (xerox)
Cunliffe, Marcus. "The American Character" (xerox)
Charvat, William. Literary Publishing in America,
1740-1850 Fox, Stephen. "Advertising Prehistory: The
Nineteenth-Century" (xerox) Foucault, Micheal. "What is an
Author?" (xerox) Howells, William Dean. "The Man of Letters
as a Man of Business" (xerox) Wilenz, Sean. "Society,
Politics, and the Market Revolution" (xerox) Mystery
Writer, "Starting Out in the 1860s:Alcott, Authorship, and the
Postbellum Literary Field"
Readings in Representational Genres:
captivity narrative: A Narrative of the
Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson.
the sermon: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
God. Jonathan Edwards travel literature:
Typee, Herman Melville serial fiction:
Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe
magazine fiction: How Celia Changed her
Mind, Rose Terry Cooke sensational fiction:
Alcott Thrillers, Louisa May Alcott
Readings from the American Canon:
The Fall of the House of Usher,. Edgar Allen Poe
Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain The Conjure
Woman, Charles Chesnutt Daisy Miller, Henry James
The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
Additional Sources on Reserve:
Warner, Micheal. The Letters of the Republic: Publishing
and the Public Sphere in 18th Century America Davidson,
Cathy. Revolution and the Word Stern Madeline.
Books and Book People -----, ed. Publishers for Mass
Entertainment in Nineteenth-Century America. Charvat,
William-. The Profession of Authorship in America
Davis, Donald. Reading for Moral Progress: Nineteenth-Century
Institutions Promoting Social Change. Levine, Lawrence.
High Brow/Low Brow Joyce, Donald Franklin.
Gatekeepers of Black Culture Coser, Kadushin and Powell.
Books: The Culture and Commerce of Publishing
Blumenthal, Joseph. The Printed Book in America.
Trebbel, John. Between Covers: The Rise and Transformation of
Book Publishing in America
Tenative Class Schedule:
Week 1:
- Introduction: "The American Character"
- A Narrative
of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs Mary Rowlandson
(1682)
Week 2:
- Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God (1741)
- "Society, Politics and the Market Revolution"
- prep
1
Week 3:
- Poe (1840)
- Literary Publishing in
America
- prep 2
Week 4:
- Typee (1846)
- Typee
- prep 3
Week 5:
- Alcott Thrillers
- Mystery Writer on Alcott
Week 6:
- Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852)
- "Advertising
Pre-History: The Nineteenth Century"
- paper
due
Week 7:Week 8:
FALL BREAK...Have a good one! (Spring Break)
Week 8:
- How Celia Changed Her Mind (1857, ff)
- "Literary History as a Hybrid Genre"
- pep 6
Week 9:
- Daisy Miller (1874)
- Daisy Miller
- prep 7
Week 10:
- Huckleberry Finn (1884)
- Huckleberry Finn
- prep 8
Week 11:
- Huckleberry Finn
- prep 9
- "The Man of
Letters as a Man of Business"
Week 12:
- The Conjure Woman (1899)
- "Generating Literary
Histories"
Week 13:
- The House of Mirth (1905)
- The House of
Mirth
- paper due.
DO YOUR OWN LITERARY HISTORY:
Possible Project Descriptions and Aims:
1)Analysis of role that college and univerisity in the creation of
the American canon. (Using reading lists and course catalgues)
2)Letters as commentary on taste. (e.g. Letters and Diaries of
Mrs.A.S. Roote)
3)Focus on a local figure as regional barometer of taste.
(Jonathan Harmon, ed. Lorrain County News.)
4)History of the Oberlin Press.
5)Business Records of local booksellers
6)Use History of Private Collections donated to Libraries as a
Inside Look into the development of library holdings--Oberlin College
Library/Oberlin Public Library
7)History of Aquisition
8)Close Examination of the Reviewing Process (Focus on Reviews
appearing in North American Review and popular press)
9)History of the Student Monthly/Quarterly
10)Oberlin Review (1874-1904)
11)History of Invited Speakers to First Church as a way to render
a History of Ideas
12)Publication History of: Typee
Uncle Tom's Cabin Huck Finn
Daisy Miller The Conjure Woman and Other
Stories The House of Mirth .
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