This will be a reading course, with minimal writing assignments. One goal will be to survey a wide range of texts that are often covered in undergraduate surveys, so the course can help teachers prepare to teach such courses. A second goal will be to touch on writers and texts that are in various canons of American literature so that one can read contemporary scholarship with some background in the texts which are being discussed.
The readings will come from The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volumes 1 and 2, edited by Paul Lauter, et al. (ISBN 0-669-32972-X and 0-669-32973-8). The 19th-century section comprises the last 1700 pages of volume 1, and the first 950 pages of volume 2 (including 175 pages of Huck Finn). This anthology has consciously set out to expand the canon of American literature to include more writings by minorities and women than had traditionally been the case, and to include texts other than fiction and poetry. Each week we will agree on about 100 pages (of the 200 pages available) for the following week's discussion.
Students will make brief oral presentations on several selected texts during the term, with a special eye on how they might be taught in a general or genre-based undergraduate course. In addition, each student will write three overviews of contemporary scholarship on selected texts. The written work will be gathered into an anthology to be distributed at the end of the course.
This course does not presuppose any special expertise in
19th-century American literature.
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Ross
Last revised 15 November 1999
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