English 158A - Winter, 2012

The American Novel to 1900

Class Information

Instructor: Metzger, Douglas
CRN: 53862
Time: TR 12:10-1:30
Location: 207 Olson

Description

In English 158(A), we’ll read a variety of American novels produced between 1789 and 1900, covering such genres as didactic and sentimental literature, romantic and gothic literature, the American Renaissance, realism, and naturalism. Upon completing the course, students will have a good sense of nineteenth-century America’s literary movements, and how these movements responded to and changed the nation’s cultural history.

Grading

Paper 1: 25%
Paper 2: 25%
Quizzes / Responses: 20%
Midterm: 15%
Final: 15%

Texts

The Power of Sympathy, William Hill Brown
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, Poe
Ruth Hall, Fanny Fern
The Confidence Man, Melville
The Minister’s Wooing, Stowe
Pudd’nhead Wilson, Twain
Maggie, Crane
The Marrow of Tradition, Chesnutt