Literature 4553:
Issues in American Literature
Frederic Murray
Assistant Professor
MLIS, University of British Columbia
BA, Political Science, University of Iowa
Instructional Services Librarian
Al Harris Library
frederic.murray@swosu.edu
Issues in American Literature
Ideal
• Democracy
• Spiritual
• Lawful
Actual/Flawed
• Slavery
• Greed
• Violence
The American Character is...
D.H. Lawrence
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer.
- Studies in Classic American Literature (1923)
Research Paper
• Text either upholds or contradicts a cliché about the
American character
• 6-7 Pages (plus Works Cited page)
• Support argument
– Citations from selected Text
– A Critical Secondary Source that discusses Text
– A Scholarly (Critical) Secondary Source that discusses the
cliché
Literature: Research Competencies
• Research plays an indispensable role in the
textual discovery process for students
• Good research skills help the literary
explorer learn more about the author and
the author’s world
• Examine scholarly interpretations of the text
• Create new studies and interpretations to
add to a body of knowledge
Research Competencies
I.
Understand the structure of information within the field of
literary research
II.
Identify and use key literary research tools to locate
relevant information
III.
Plan effective search strategies and modify search
strategies as needed
IV.
Understand that some information sources are more
authoritative than others and demonstrate critical
thinking in the research process
Guidelines for Literature
I. Understand the structure of information within
the field of literary research
Review
Criticism
Absalom Absalom
Review
Criticism
I. Understand the structure of information
within the field of literary research
• Understand the concept and significance of peerreviewed sources of information
• Understand that literary texts exist in a variety of
editions, some of which are more authoritative or
useful than others
• Understand the authorship, production,
dissemination, or availability of literary production.
This includes understanding the meanings and
distinctions of the concepts of editions, facsimiles,
and authoritative editions
II. Identify and use key literary research tools
to locate relevant information
• Use reference and other appropriate information
resources to provide background information and
contextual information about social, intellectual, and
literary culture
– American Writers
– Bachman’s Encyclopedia of Pop. Fiction
– Handbook to Literature
II. Identify and use key literary research tools
to locate relevant information
• Understand the
uses of all available
databases and
services
• America: History
and Life with Full
Text
• MLA International
Bibliography
(EBSCO)
• JSTOR
• Ebrary (digital
books)
Sources: Databases
• America: History and Life with Full Text
• Historical Abstracts with Full Text*
• MLA International Bibliography
(EBSCO)
• JSTOR
• Literary Reference Center
• Ebrary*
III. Plan effective search strategies and modify
search strategies as needed
Keywords
Boolean
Boolean Operators
• Connect keywords only
• Must be placed between keywords
• AND
– Narrows your search
• OR
– Expands your search with synonymous terms
• NOT
– Excludes words from your search
– If used too much, it can work against you!
Research Competencies
• Understand that some information
sources are more authoritative than
others and demonstrate critical
thinking in the research process
Research Paper
• Text either upholds or contradicts one list of clichés
about the American character
• 6-7 Pages (plus Works Cited page)
• Support argument
– Citations from selected Text
– A Critical Secondary Source that discusses Text
– A Scholarly (Critical) Secondary Source that discusses the
cliché
Possible Topic
• Bartolomé de Las
Casas
• Brief Account of the
Devastation of the
Indies
Authoritative Edition ?
Authoritative Edition ?
Authoritative Edition ?
Possible Topic
• Bartolomé de Las
Casas
• Brief Account of the
Devastation of the
Indies
Sources: Databases
• America: History and Life with Full Text
• Historical Abstracts with Full Text*
• MLA International Bibliography
(EBSCO)
• JSTOR
• Literary Reference Center
• Ebrary*
Sources: Digital Books
• Ebrary
Chapter Search
Search: Las Casas
Buscaglia-Salgado, Jose F.. Undoing Empire:
Race and Nation in the Mulatto Caribbean.
Minneapolis, MN, USA: University of
Minnesota Press, 2003.
• Chapter 3: Bartolomé de Las Casas at
the End of Time; or, How the Indies
Were Won and Lost
Needed for Paper…
•
•
•
NEED: Citations from selected Text
– Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies
NEED: A Critical Secondary Source that discusses Text
– Buscaglia-Salgado, Jose F. "Bartolomé De Las Casas at the End of
Time; Or, How the Indies Were Won and Lost." Undoing Empire :
Race and Nation in the Mulatto Caribbean. New Haven: Yale UP,
2007. 62-98. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 30 September 2015
NEED: A Scholarly (Critical) Secondary Source that discusses a cliché
or assumption about the American character *
What’s Needed……..
• What’s really needed is a selection of
one of the assumptions/ clichés
surrounding the American Character
• What’s really needed is a working
Thesis…
Discussion: Example
• The spiritualism of the Puritans vs. the
materialism of later generations
• In Las Casas it could be framed as
Saving Souls Vs Brutal Land Grab
Working Thesis
The American character is predacious
and often masked under the guise of
religious temperance. Bartolomé de Las
Casas Brief Account of the Devastation
of the Indies provides an early example
of the unmasking of this characteristic.
How to Search the Assumption?
Search: early Caribbean greed and violence
VERBURG, RUDI. "The Rise Of Greed In Early Economic Thought: From
Deadly Sin To Social Benefit." Journal Of The History Of Economic
Thought (Cambridge University Press) 34.4 (2012): 515-539. Historical
Abstracts with Full Text. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
Needed for Paper…
•
NEED: Citations from selected Text
– Casas, Bartolome. A Brief Account of the Destruction of the
Indies. Middlesex: Echo Library, 2007. Print.
•
NEED: A Critical Secondary Source that discusses Text
– Buscaglia-Salgado, Jose F. "Bartolomé De Las Casas at the End of
Time; Or, How the Indies Were Won and Lost." Undoing Empire :
Race and Nation in the Mulatto Caribbean. New Haven: Yale UP,
2007. 62-98. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 30 September 2015
•
NEED: A Scholarly (Critical) Secondary Source that discusses the
cliché or assumption about the American character
–
"The Rise Of Greed In Early Economic Thought: From Deadly Sin To Social Benefit."
Journal Of The History Of Economic Thought (Cambridge University Press) 34.4
(2012): 515-539. Historical Abstracts with Full Text.
Research Paper
• Strategies for Search
– Write a working thesis
– Criticism of Work/Discussion of Idea
• Sources to Search
– Ebrary –Digital Books/Chapters
– Lit Databases
• JSTOR/MLA/LRC
– History Databases
• American Life/Historical Abstracts/JSTOR
Class Exercise
• Find three to five scholarly sources* interrogating the
ideas found in the following quote.
The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer.
- D.H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature (1923)
- Find a chapter in an Ebrary
- Find articles in one of the historical databases - Find articles in a literary database
• Replicate this process using Discovery
*A Critical Secondary Source that discusses Text
A Scholarly (Critical) Secondary Source that discusses cliché
Literature 4553:
Issues in American Literature
2nd Lecture
Frederic Murray
Assistant Professor
MLIS, University of British Columbia
BA, Political Science, University of Iowa
Instructional Services Librarian
Al Harris Library
frederic.murray@swosu.edu
How do we research and
write about literature?
• Working Thesis
• Subject Specific Databases/Ebrary
• Select Keywords/ Boolean /Limiters
Why do we research and
write about literature?
Interpretation?
Creativity?
Value?
Harry Wu
• The study of Literature is unclassifiable….one of the
few remaining fields that lie beyond quantitative
analysis
• The world is in love with data, but good writing,
what we might call literature, is about passion and
emotion, not bits and bytes
• Good writing makes us feel something
A few notable practitioners
• Northrup Frye: Unified Theory of Criticism:
criticism is a “structure of thought and knowledge
existing in its own right.”
• Andrew Delbanco: critic of American literary and
religious history/Director of American Studies at
Columbia University
• Sven Birkerts: The Guttenberg Elegies/ Editor of
AGNI
• Harold Bloom: American literary critic/Yale/twenty
books of criticism/ Jedi Master of Shakespeare
• Helen Vendler: Critic of Wallace Stevens
Class Exercise
• Find three scholarly sources
interrogating the idea of violence in
the American character.
• What databases?
• What keywords?
• Bring citations to class Friday
Exercise: The idea of violence in the
American character
Graham, Hugh Davis. "The Paradox of American Violence: A Historical
Appraisal." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social
Science 391., Collective Violence (1970): 74-82 [JSTOR]
Cawelti, John G. "Myths of Violence in American Popular Culture." Critical
Inquiry 1.3 (1975): 521-41. [MLA]
Rogers-Cooper, Justin. "Righteous Violence: Revolution, Slavery, And The
American Renaissance." Nineteenth-Century Contexts 36.2 (2014): 205207. America: History and Life with Full Text. Web. 26 Sept.
2014.[America History & Full Text]
Keywords: Slotkin and American Violence
MLA – 1
ASC – 3 Bk Reviews
JSTOR – 47
Graham, Hugh Davis. "The Paradox of
American Violence: A Historical
Appraisal." Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science
391., Collective Violence (1970): 74-82.
Keywords: violence and American
character and texts
MLA – 1657 – 18
Cawelti, John G. "Myths of Violence in
American Popular Culture." Critical
Inquiry 1.3 (1975): 521-41.
http://screencast.com/t/kN0pB6MkrBfK
Keywords: violence and American
literature
American History and Full Text- 121
Rogers-Cooper, Justin. "Righteous
Violence: Revolution, Slavery, And The
American Renaissance." NineteenthCentury Contexts 36.2 (2014): 205-207.
America: History and Life with Full Text.
Web. 26 Sept. 2014.
Digital Tools
• Refworks
• Ebsco Folders
• Ebrary Bookshelf
Questions?
• Contact me:
• Frederic Murray
• 774-7113
• frederic.murray@swosu.edu
Thanks!