English 144 - Fall, 2016

Post-Civil War American Literature

Class Information

Instructor: Shipe, Cara
CRN: 54250
Time: MWF 10:00-10:50
Location: 146 Olson

Description

This course provides an overview of post-Civil War American literature written between 1865 and 1910. We will examine mutable definitions of ‘Americanness’ as they play out in the tumultuous social arena of the latter nineteenth century U.S., particularly in relation to the end of formal slavery, rapid industrialization, increasing immigration, and progressive social movements. We will closely attend to the content and form of texts from literary traditions including sentimentalism, regionalism, realism, and naturalism in order to uncover the complicated—and enduring—ways in which social and biological domains converge in ideas of human difference and citizenship.

Grading

Reading Pop Quizzes, 10%
In-class Participation, 15%
Essay 1, 20%
Essay 2, 30%
Final Exam, 25%

Texts

The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton
The Turn of the Screw, Henry James
Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
The House Behind the Cedars, Charles Chestnutt
Mrs. Spring Fragrance, Sui Sin Far
Pudd'nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins, Mark Twain
The Story of My Life, Helen Keller
Maggie, A Girl of the Streets and The Monster, Stephen Crane
Herland, Charlotte Perkins Gilman
The Awakening, Kate Chopin