All required readings are from the Norton Anthology of American Literature, Volumes A & B (8th edition). All other secondary readings will be provided either in photocopied format or on the Moodle platform.
Early American Literature 1620-1820.
1.1. Encountering (in) the New World
John Smith, from The
General History of Virginia, New England, and the Summer Isles.
William Bradford, from Of
Plymouth Plantation.
1.2. Colonials and Native-Americans: Inhabiting America
Anne Bradstreet, “The Prologue”, “The Author to Her Book”,
“Before the Birth of One of Her Children”, “In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth
Bradstreet”, “Here
Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of Our House”.
Edward Taylor, “Prologue (from Preparatory
Meditations)”, “Upon Wedlock,
and Death of Children”, “A Fig for Thee, Oh! Death”.
Mary Rowlandson, A
Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. 1.3. Becoming American
Benjamin Franklin, The
Autobiography (Parts One & Two).
J. Hector St. Jean de Crèvecoeur, selections from
Letters from an American Farmer
Thomas Jefferson, “The Declaration of Independence”.
Washington Irving, “Rip Van Winkle”.
2. American Literature 1820-1865: American (Re)naissance.
2.1. Self-making and nation-making
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar”.
Henry David Thoreau, selections from Walden.
2.2. The captive self
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, “The Cask
of Amontillado”, “The Purloined Letter”.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The
Scarlet Letter.
Frederick Douglass, Narrative
of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an AmericanSlave, Written by Himself.
Herman Melville, “Bartleby the Scrivener”, “Benito Cereno”.
2.3. The captivated self
Walt Whitman, selected poems: "Song of Myself" Emily Dickinson, selected poems: nos 39,
112, 122, 194, 207, 260, 269, 339, 340, 347, 359, 372, 409, 479, 519, 591, 598, 620, 764, 788, 1263, 1668.
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