AJ15000 American Literature: Beginnings to 1865

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2016
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 2 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
doc. Jeffrey Alan Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Timetable
Thu 17:30–19:05 zrusena M13
Prerequisites (in Czech)
( AJ09999 Qualifying Examination || AJ01002 Practical English II ) && AJ04003 Intro. to Literary Studies II
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 75 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/75, only registered: 0/75, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/75
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 7 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
A survey of American literature from the colonial period through the Civil War. Specific topics to be addressed are indicated on the syllabus below. At the end of the course, students should be able to identify key authors, developments and movements in early American literature and culture and to explain their significance and interrelationships.
Syllabus
  • Assigned readings have in most cases been excerpted and arranged specifically for the course, and therefore should be accessed at the web address for course materials: tiny.cc/Americanliteratureto1865 (direct "hotlink" is below, under "Teacher's information").
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • WEEK 1
  • 29 September: BACKGROUND AND CONCEPTS FOR STUDYING EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • WEEK 2
  • 6 October: ENVISIONING THE “NEW-FOUND-LAND”
  • Read:
  • Paul Boyer, American History: A Very Short Introduction, Preface and chapters 1-4
  • Michael Drayton, Ode to the Virginian Voyage
  • Selections from Puritan writings, as posted
  • William Cullen Bryant, The Prairies
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • WEEK 3
  • 13 October: THE AMERICAN FOUNDING
  • Read:
  • Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac and Autobiography, selections posted
  • Selections from the Founders’ writings, as posted
  • The Declaration of Independence
  • Crevecouer, Letters from an American Farmer, selections posted
  • Tench Coxe, A View of the United States, selections posted
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • WEEK 4
  • 20 October: NEOCLASSICISM AND CHANGING STYLES
  • Read:
  • Freneau and Brackenridge, The Rising Glory of America
  • Bolingbroke, Ideal of the the Patriot King, selections posted
  • Selected writings on the US presidency, as posted
  • Parson Weems, Life of Washington, selections posted
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • WEEK 5
  • 27 October: RACE AND SLAVERY
  • Read:
  • Selected writings on race, as posted
  • Introductions to and selected poems of Phillis Wheatley, as posted
  • Selected “slave song” lyrics and commentary, as posted
  • Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life, selections posted
  • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Song of Haiawatha, selections posted
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • 3 November: INVERSIONS AND SATIRES
  • Read:
  • Royall Tyler, The Contrast, posted summary and Act I scene 2; Act II scene 2; Act III scenes 1-2
  • Washington Irving, Knickerbocker's History of New York, selections posted, and Rip Van Winkle
  • Selections from early American humorists, as posted
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • 10 November: TRANSCENDENTALISM AND THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE
  • Read:
  • Selections from Ralph Waldo Emerson, as posted
  • Theodore Parker, Of Justice and the Conscience
  • Henry David Thoreau, Walden, selections posted
  • Walt Whitman, selected poems, as posted
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • READING WEEK: NO CLASS ON 17 NOVEMBER
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • 24 November: THE HAUNTED PAST
  • Read:
  • The Book of Mormon, selections posted
  • Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown
  • Edgar Allen Poe, The Raven and The Fall of the House of Usher
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • 1 December: REVISIONISM AND PROTEST
  • Read:
  • William Apess, Lectures and Addresses, selections posted
  • James Whitfield, America
  • Frederick Douglass, Fourth of July Address
  • Selections from feminist and abolitionist writings, as posted
  • Herman Melville, Moby-Dick, selections posted
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • 8 December: CRISIS AND CIVIL WAR
  • Read:
  • Harriett Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, selections posted
  • Abraham Lincoln, Addresses, selections posted
  • Selected writings on the war, as posted
  • ---------------------------------------------------------------
  • 13 December: FINAL EXAM, FIRST SITTING
Literature
    recommended literature
  • A handbook of American literature : for students of English. Edited by Zbigniew Lewicki. Warsaw: U.S. Embassy, vi, 256. info
  • GRAY, Richard J. A brief history of American literature. 1st pub. Chichester, UK: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011, x, 410. ISBN 9781405192309. info
Teaching methods
Readings and lectures / discussions.
Assessment methods
100% final exam. First sitting: 13 December, normal class time and place. The "re-sit" will be an essay assignment.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
Information about innovation of course.
This course has been innovated under the project "Faculty of Arts as Centre of Excellence in Education: Complex Innovation of Study Programmes and Fields at FF MU with Regard to the Requirements of the Knowledge Economy“ – Reg. No. CZ.1.07/2.2.00/28.0228, which is cofinanced by the European Social Fond and the national budget of the Czech Republic.

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Teacher's information
http://tiny.cc/Americanliteratureto1865
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 1999, Autumn 2000, Autumn 2001, Autumn 2002, Autumn 2003, Autumn 2004, Autumn 2005, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2020.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2016, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/phil/autumn2016/AJ15000