AMERICAN LIT: 1825-1865 Fall, 1998

English 353

 

Sandra Zagarell

Office: Rice 126

Ext. 8585

Office Hours:

Mon., Wed., 2-3:30 and by appointment

TEXTS

THE HEATH ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE, Vol. I, (HEATH); Elizabeth Stoddard, THE MORGESONS; Herman Melville, MOBY-DICK; Harriet E. Jacobs, INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL; Henry Thoreau, WALDEN

FORMAT

Generally two classes a week will be devoted to an open lecture format which accommodates class participation.. We will also build in discussions, which can, I hope, sometimes take place on Fridays.

AGENDA (Unless otherwise noted, all selections are in the

HEATH ANTHOLOGY; R = reserve)

Sept. 2

Introduction and practical matters

Sept. 9

What are the terms on which we address American Literature? 1825-1865? Read: Lauter's Introduction to the era in HEATH,pp.1227-60. We'll pursue this question by exploring another, that of REPRESENTING NATIVE AMERICANS. Read all the selections from William Apes, John Wannuancon Quincy, Elias Buodinot, and John Rollin Ridge in HEATH, plus introductory notes [pp.1779-1809]; also William Cullen Bryant, "The Prairies" [2711-14]; Lydia H. Sigourney, "Indian Names" [2726-27]; and hand-out from Sedgwick.

Useful background on critical/historical approaches to this period on reserve include: CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF AMERICAN LIT., VOL II, Michael Bell, "Beginnings of Professionalism" and "Women's Fiction and the Literary Marketplace in the 1850s"; Jonathan Arab, "Establishing National Narrative." Those interested in earlier explanatory paradigms for the era might want to look at Tony Tanner's very romantic "Notes for a Comparison between American and European Romanticism" and Nina Baym's witty "Melodramas of Beset Manhood"; both are xeroxed and on reserve.

Sept. 14

AUTOBIOGRAPHY as LECTURE/ESSAY. Emerson, "The American Scholar," "Self-Reliance," "Ode, Inscribed To W.H. Channing," "Hamatreya"

Sept. 16

Emerson, "Experience" (read this essay twice); "Brahma" DISCUSSION I at 1 pm: Wilder 211

Sept. 18

DISCUSSION II--regular room

Sept. 21

ROSH HASHANAH--no class

Sept. 23

MODES OF REPRESENTING SLAVERY: David Walker, "Walker's Appeal"; Lydia Maria Child, from "Appeal on Behalf of..." ; Douglass, NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF.... [all in HEATH]

Sept. 25

MAKE-UP CLASS: Harriet Jacobs, INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL (separate text) regular room

Sept. 28

Full-class discussion on representing slavery

Sept. 30

YOM KIPPUR--no class

Oct. 5

AUTOBIOGRAPHY/NOVEL/ESSAY. Melville, MOBY-DICK (sep. text)

Oct. 7

Melville, MOBY-DICK. DISCUSSION I at 1 pm, Wilder 211

Oct. 9

DISCUSSION II, regular room

FIRST PAPER DUE

Oct. 12

MOBY-DICK

Oct. 14

Return to the question "What was literature?" antebellum style by reading Poe, "Fall of the House of Usher," "The City in the Sea," "To Helen," and "The Philosophy of Composition" [HEATH]

Oct. 26

"What was Literature?" revisited: read Ronald J. Zboray, "Antebellum Reading and the Ironies of Technological Innovation" and chapter 3 of Richard Brodhead, The School of Hawthorne (R).

This is an informational-exploration session with Whitney Pape in Special Collections, 4th floor of Mudd. We'll talk about Oberlin's holdings in antebellum magazines and books. One aspect of our work over the next two weeks will be considering the "popular" appeal of antebellum literature; this gets obscured if we concentrate too exclusively on "classics" or on current modes of reading. I'll therefore ask you to look carefully through one antebellum magazine, either alone or in a group of up to 4, taking note of what's there, what impression the magazine and its contents give of the era, and how this project affects your understanding of antebellum literature. You'll report on this work next week.

Oct. 28

REPRESENTING CLASS WITHIN CONVENTIONS OF ALLEGORY AND/OR SENTIMENTAL NARRATIVE Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills (separate text, originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, 7 (April, 1861)

Nov.2

Publishing and magazine writing. Reports on poking around in antebellum magazines and newspapers.

Nov. 4

Publishing and magazine writing. Reports on poking around in antebellum magazines and newspapers.

Nov. 9

AUTOBIOGRAPHY AS ESSAY/NARRATIVE. Thoreau, WALDEN (separate text)

Nov. 11

Thoreau.

At 1: Discussion I on Thoreau in Wilder 211

Nov. 13

Discussion II on Thoreau, regular room

Nov. 16

HISTORICAL ROMANCE AND GENDER. Hawthorne, THE SCARLET LETTER. THIS INCLUDES THE CUSTOM HOUSE (all in HEATH)

Nov. 18

noon--DISCUSSION II, regular room

1 pm Discussion I, Wilder 211

Nov. 20

SECOND PAPER DUE

Nov. 23

WOMEN'S BILDUNGSROMAN Stoddard, THE MORGESONS (separate text)

Nov. 25

Same as above. FULL-CLASS DISCUSSION

Nov. 30

EXPANSIVE EGO/MODERN EPIC. Whitman, "Leaves of Grass"; (see also Lydia H. Sigourney, "Niagara")

Dec. 2

Whitman, "Leaves of Grass."

DISCUSSION 1 at 1 pm, Wilder 211

Dec. 4

DISCUSSION II, regular room

Dec. 7

CONCENTRATED EGO/LYRIC. Poetry by Emily Dickinson (selections from HEATH + hand-out)

Dec. 9

Dickinson's poetry: FULL-CLASS DISCUSSION

Dec. 14

Wrap-up.

Dec. 16, 4:30 p. THIRD PAPER DUE

You are expected to have finished reading each work and thinking about each topic to be discussed by the date on which consideration of them will begin, and to review them for subsequent classes. You will also be asked to write two out of a possible three papers (see below), prepare written questions for discussion sections, explore an antebellum magazine and report briefly on your findings (this can be done in groups of up to 4), and actively participate in class. Your regular presence and genuine participation in discussion will be important factors in your contribution to the class and in what you get out of it. Though I may not always take attendance, I will be aware of presence and absences. Unexcused absences will be taken into account when I calculate your final grade for the course.

PAPERS

There will be two papers, chosen from a possible three. Each will be 8-10 pages in length. Because of the obligation to notify you and your adviser about the level of your performance at mid-semester I must have written work from you before Break. Therefore you will be required to write the first paper. You may elect to do either the second or the third; if you'd like to write three papers rather than two, you may. Due dates, subjects, and suggestions for topics are as follows. Suggested topics are intended to get you thinking and are not mandatory.

First paper: due Oct. 9 Suggested Topics: The appeal (to an antebellum readership; to a 1998 reader) of one or two of the pieces read. Or: lay out the approach you take as a reader of one of these texts and discuss the reading it yields. Choose from among the works read this far, through Moby-Dick. If you want to write about something in the HEATH ANTHOLOGY we have not discussed in class, come talk to me about the topic, and get my approval, before you begin work on it. You may also devise your own topic.

Second paper: due Nov. 20. Texts you may write on: MOBY-DICK, LIFE IN THE IRON MILLS, Walker's and/or Child's "Appeal," Douglass' NARRATIVE, Jacobs' INCIDENTS; Suggested topics: 1) Modes of representing race/class/gender in one of these works. 2] The rhetorical means by which these works appeal to readers, seeking to stir up their thinking and to activate them; 3] going further with your work on an antebellum magazine. You could do that in the context of exploring authorship, literature, readerships,and/or the antebellum literary marketplace, or in some other way. You'll want to talk with me about this one.

Third paper: Due Dec.15. TEXTS: THE SCARLET LETTER, THE MORGESONS, LEAVES OF GRASS, poetry of Dickinson. Suggested topic: constructions of the self (in the context of or over and against the collectivity) in one of these works. For this paper, too, you may also work on a topic related to magazines: do come see me if you decide on that.

Papers should be in typescript, double-spaced. They should be titled. Format for quotations should follow the guidelines of the ALA HANDBOOK or another reliable guide. You may use secondary sources if you wish, though you are not required to do so. You MUST indicate your sources through proper foot- or endnotes and accompany your paper with a bibliography if you do use secondary materials. Papers should be proof-read for spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. Please stick to the required length for papers.

LATE PAPERS WITHOUT EXTENSIONS WILL BE PENALIZED. I will deduct one grade (e.g. lower a paper from, say, a B+ to a B) for each day of lateness unless you have a valid excuse which you discuss with me in advance--an illness, a family emergency. Since you're being given the semester's schedule at the semester's beginning and can plan ahead, work pressure from other courses does not constitute valid grounds for lateness. You cannot pass the course unless you have turned in both papers, engaged in a magazine/newspaper project, and fulfilled all other requirements.

EVALUATION

Papers will count for approx. 65 % of your final grade; class participation--your engagement in class discussion, your preparedness, your work on a magazine project, including presentation--will count approx. 35%.

Please feel free to check in with me if you want feedback on your classwork, if you want to discuss paper topics in advance or your written work after I've evaluated it, or if you have other questions or concerns. My office hours are Monday and Wednesday, 2:00-3:30.

One last note: remember that there is a Reserve Shelf with selected reading for this course.