Goals: The general objective of English 3005 is to increase students' familiarity with literary art and expression through extensive readings in various forms (fiction, poetry, drama, non-fiction prose) and close, critical analysis of important passages. Readings are selected as a sample of the range of American literature, chiefly from the 16th to 19th centuries. Another important objective is to foster students' interest and excitement about literature and to give them tools for understanding the imaginative literature they will read for the rest of their lives.

Lectures and discussion introduce students to topics such as how writers create and publish their works, literary techniques, and historical and social contexts of writers and readers (including the students). Questions of literary form and content inevitably touch on other related fields of knowledge - history, art, music, philosophy, and psychology. The course also discusses literary conventions and taste, how these change over time, and how traditions are built upon and undermined through innovation and experiment. Students will see how the works pose challenging questions about gender and sexuality, social and economic class, cultural coherence and diversity, and the nature of private and public morality. The course also introduces relevant theoretical, scholarly, and critical approaches that can help students understand the richness of the readings. Especially important is for students to see how a single text can generate multiple responses and how those responses are often the result of one's critical perspective.

Texts: Paul Lauter, et al., eds., The Heath Anthology of American Literature, 4th edition, volume 1. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1998. ISBN 0-618-10919-6. (Fourth edition, first volume)

Nathaniel Hawthorne Blithedale Romance Penguin ISBN: 0-14-039005-7

Return to the Home page

Department of English, University of Minnesota
URL: http://English.cla.umn.edu/FacultyProfiles/Ross/Courses/
Please send comments to: Donald Ross
Last revised 7 August 2004

The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer.
© Regents of the University of Minnesota, 2000.