EN 141           American Literary History I                Fall 2006

Professor James D. Wallace, Carney 453.

Office Hours:  Tues. 1-2; Wed. 2-3; Thurs. 12-12:45; and by arrangement

Phone:  2-3712           e-mail:  wallacej@bc.edu     

Web page:  http://www2.bc.edu/~wallacej    

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Texts for this course:

            Baym, et al., The Norton Anthology of America Literature vols. A & B

            Fanny Fern, Ruth Hall (Penguin)

            Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance (Oxford)

 

Writing  There will be two papers, each 1600-2000 words for this course. Due dates are firm; late papers will be penalized 1/3 grade per day.

There will also be a midterm, March 12, and a final exam, Monday, May 11, 12:30 PM.

 

Readings :  names in bold type refer to selections in The Norton Anthology of American Literature--read all selections by these authors.

 

Jan       15       Introduction

 

                                    Beginnings

            20        Columbus, John Smith, Native American Trickster Tales

                                    The Puritans

            22        William Bradford and John Winthrop

 

            27        Anne Bradstreet and Michael Wigglesworth

            29        Mary Rowlandson

 

Feb       3         Edward Taylor

             5         Cotton Mather and Sarah Kemble Knight

             

                                    The 18th Century and Early Republic

            10        Jonathan Edwards and Samson Occom

            12        Crevecoeur and Jefferson...............................................First Essay Due

 

17        Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley

            19        Washington Irving

 

                                    American Renaissance

            24        Emerson, Nature and "The American Scholar"

            26        Hawthorne, "My Kinsman, Major Molineux," and "Maypole of Merrymount."  Read also selection from Thomas Morton (back in                                    Norton Vol. A)

 

February 30-March 8 Spring Vacation

 Mar     10         Hawthorne, "The Birth-Mark" & "Rappaccini's Daughter

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            12         MIDTERM EXAM

17        Poe, "Ligeia" and "Fall of the House of Usher"

            19        Margaret Fuller, "The Great Lawsuit"

 

            24        Frederick Douglass

            26        Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance

 

            31        Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance

Apr      2         Fanny Fern, Ruth Hall

             7         Fanny Fern, Ruth Hall..................................................Second Essay Due

             9                     Easter Break

            14        Melville, "Bartleby, the Scrivener," "Norfolk Isle and the Chola Widow" and "Paradise of Bachelors and Tartarus of Maids"

            16        Melville, "Benito Cereno"


21        Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"

            23        Whitman, "From Pent-up Aching Rivers," "Out of the Cradle" & "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed"

 

            28        Emily Dickinson

            30        Emily Dickinson

 

Final Exam, Monday, May 11, 12:30 PM.

 

Statement on Academic Integrity

Any form of cheating or plagiarism will be reported to the Department Chairperson and to the appropriate dean, as required by university policy (see the section on academic integrity in the Undergraduate Catalog).  Students uncertain about what constitutes plagiarism in the context of a particular assignment or exam situation should ask their instructor for clarification before undertaking the assignment in order to avoid any potential problems.

See the full University statement on the Web at www.bc.edu/integrity