English 158A - Summer Sessions II, 2018

The American Novel to 1900

Class Information

Instructor: Ziser, Michael
CRN: 74096
Time: TWR 12:10-1:50
Location: 1301 Shrem

Description

This course charts the development of the American novel from its Revolutionary-era inception to the end of the 19th century. We will read examples from some of the many generic traditions of early national, antebellum, and Reconstruction American fiction, including the seduction tale, the gothic thriller, the historical romance, wilderness adventure, naturalist novella, utopian science fiction, and regionalist satire. Lectures will focus on the aesthetic structures as well as the biographical and social contexts of the individual novels. Some attention will be paid to theoretical and historical arguments about the novel as a form. Primary reading will be relatively heavy, but there will be few assigned secondary texts.

Grading

Attendance will be taken, and papers and exams will require substantial mastery of materials presented in lecture. Lecture notes will not be circulated or posted on the web.

Participation 16%
Paper 1 (4-5 pp) 18%
Paper 2 (7-8 pp) 30%
Short Assignments 15%
Midterm 10%
Final Exam 10%

Texts

The Tragedy of Pudd’nhead Wilson, Mark Twain
Wieland; or, The Transformation, Charles Brockden Brown
Billy Budd and Other Stories, Herman Melville
Looking Backward: 2000-1887, Edward Bellamy
Life in the Iron Mills, Rebecca Harding Davis
Hope Leslie; or, Early Times in the Massachusetts, Catharine Maria Sedgwick
Charlotte Temple: A Tale of Truth, Susanna Rowson
Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, Stephen Crane