FALL SEMESTER, 2011–2012
COURSE CODE: BTAN3013MA01
Course Designation:
TOPICS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE BEFORE 1900
Title:
REPRESENTATIVE TEXTS IN THE LITERARY CULTURE
FROM COLONIAL TIMES
TO THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY
TIME & PLACE:
INSTRUCTOR:
4:00–5:40 p.m. Monday;
seminar room #119;
Main Building, University of Debrecen
Zsolt Virágos
Office: Room #118, Main Bldg of the U of D;
Office hours: 3:00–4:00 p.m. Monday,
12:00–1:00 p.m. Wednesday;
Telephone: 512-900 (ext.: 22069)
Required Texts:
[A] a CD, including required texts (except those itemized under [B] and [C])
assigned for this course of study).
[B] fiction:
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom’s Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly (1852)
Herman Melville, Billy Budd, Foretopman (posthumously, 1924)
[C] Virágos Zsolt—Varró Gabriella: Jim Crow örökösei: mítosz és sztereotípia
az amerikai társadalmi tudatban és kultúrában. Budapest: Eötvös Kiadó, 2002.
Virágos, Zsolt. Portraits and Landmarks: The American Literary Culture in
the 19th Century. Debrecen: U of Debrecen: AAI, 2010.
Virágos, Zsolt. The Modernists and Others: The American Literary Culture in
the Age of the Modernist Revolution. Debrecen: U of Debrecen: AAI, 2008.
COURSE GOALS:
In view of the fact that the basic BA program in American literary history focuses on
texts from 1800 to the present, the principal objective of this course of study is to
offer students of American culture and literature an additional sample of
representative texts, this time from the colonial period through the Age of Reason
and the Romantic Age to the end of the 19th century. The selected authors include
Captain John Smith (1580–1631), Samuel Sewall (1652–1730), Anne Bradstreet
(1612–1672), Edward Taylor (c.1642–1729), Mary Rowlandson (c.1635–c.1678),
Sarah Kemble Knight (1666–1727), Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur (1735–
1813), Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790), Thomas Paine (1737–1809), Royall Tyler
(1757–1826), and Harriet Beecher Stowe (18111896). The list will also include two
authors re-visited: Cooper and Melville. * The inner core of the dominant
conceptuality of the course, despite its unavoidable heterogeneity, will have to
include the religious philosophy of Puritanism, colonialism, the Enlightenment
ethos, preromanticism, romanticism, rival interpretations of democracy, the changing
image of Native Americans, English literary antecedents (primarily the 17th-century
metaphysical poets [cf. Edward Taylor] and restoration drama [re Royall Tyler]), the
moral implications of slavery, apologies of the peculiar institution, and stereotypy.
The looser cluster of concepts ranges from "pamphlet" to "melodrama," and
historical types from Powhatan to the Hessians, etc.
Schedule & Reading Assignments:
[1] General Orientation & Introduction
[2] The Colonies (I). Founding: Voyages, Adventures and Visions
(a) Captain John Smith (1580–1631)
→ from A Description
of New England (1616) [CD text code: RT1]
→ from The General History of Virginia, New England, and The Summer
Isles (1624) [CD text code: RT1]
Secondary reading:
→ Sämi Ludwig, "Ideology and Art: Pocahontas in Three Early American Plays."
[RT3]
→ Edwin C. Rozwenc, “Captain John Smith’s Image of America” [RT3]
(b) Samuel Sewall (1652–1730)
→ from The Diary of Samuel Sewall (1674–1677, 1685–1729; pub. 1878–1882, 1967)
[CD: RT4]
[3] The Colonies (II). Poetry: Pious Puritans
(a) Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672)
"The Prologue," "Before the Birth of One of Her Children, "To My Dear and Loving
Husband," "As Weary Pilgrim," from "Meditations Divine and Moral" [CD text code: RT5]
(b) Edward Taylor (c. 1642–1729)
"Meditation 8," "Meditation 38" (First Series), "Meditation 26" (Second Series); "Upon a Spider
Catching a Fly," "Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold," "Satan's Rage at Them in Their Conversion,"
"Huswifery" [CD text code: RT6]
[4] The Colonies (III). Personal Accounts of High Adventure.
(a) Mary Rowlandson (c. 1635-c. 1678): Indian captivity.
→ from A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary
Rowlandson (1682) [CD text code: RT7]
(b) Sarah Kemble Knight (1666-1727): hazardous journey.
→ from The Journal of Madam Knight (1704; pub. 1825) [CD: RT8]
[5] The Age of Reason (I): Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790) [CD: RT9]
(a) → from Poor Richard's Almanack (1732–1757) [CD: RT10]
(b) "Old Mistresses Apologue" (1745, 1926) [CD: RT11]
(c) "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America" (1784) [CD: RT12]
(d) Ambrose Bierce, "Wise Saws and Modern Instances, or Poor Richard in
Reverse" [CD: RT13]
[6] The Age of Reason (II): Benjamin Franklin (II)
(a) → from The Autobiography (1771, 1784, 1788, 1789-1790) [CD: RT14]
(b) Stoddard King, "Poem for Benjamin Franklin's Birthday." [CD: RT15]
(c) Mark Twain, "The Late Benjamin Franklin." [CD: RT16]
(d) James Thurber, "The Shrike and the Chipmunks." [CD: RT17]
(e) George Ade, "The Patient Toiler Who Got It in the Usual Place." [CD:
RT18]
[7] The Age of Reason (III): Letters and Social Diagnoses
Michel-Guillaume Jean de Crèvecoeur (1735–1813) [CD: RT19]
→ from Letters from an American Farmer (1782)
→ from Letter III: "What Is an American" [CD: RT20]
→ from Letter XII: "Distress of a Frontier Man"[CD: RT21]
[8] The Age of Reason (IV): Thomas Paine (1737–1809) [CD: RT22]
(a) → from "Common Sense" (1776) [CD: RT22]
(b) → from The American Crisis (Number One; 1776) [CD: RT23]
(c) → from The Age of Reason (1794; chaps. I to V, IX) [CD: RT24]
(d) Benjamin Franklin, “To Thomas Paine” [“You Strike at the Foundation
of All Religion”] (1786) [CD: RT25]
[9]
MIDTERM (IN-CLASS) EXAMINATION
[10] Royall Tyler (1757–1826), The Contrast (1787; 1790) [CD: RT26]
[11] James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851): socio-political observations
(a) ► from Notions
of the Americans (1828) [CD: RT27]
(a) ► from The American Democrat (1838) [CD: RT28]
[12] Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896)
(a) Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852; I)
(b) "'Instigated by the Devil': The South and Harriet Beecher Stowe" [CD: RT29]
[13] Harriet Beecher Stowe
(II)
(a) Uncle Tom's Cabin (II)
(b) Virágos–Varró, 300–307
!!!TAKE-HOME PAPER DUE!!!
[14] Herman Melville (1819-1891), Billy Budd (1924)
Instructional Method:
This course of study will be an advanced, MA-level seminar concentrating on some
selected and sharply focused areas of American cultural history. Due priority will be
given to primary reading, to the study of secondary sources (essays, historical
studies, commentary, background reading) and individual research. The lectureplus-seminar format will make it possible to identify themes of primary interest as
well as to devote substantial class time to question periods, discussion, progress
reports, and individual presentations by each student in the group "for the benefit of
the whole class." Most seminars will begin with an overview of the relevant issues
and related concepts, these latter presented by the instructor, who will also moderate
and assess the seminar discussions. To facilitate access to all the required texts
(except the two novels), a CD with required material will be made available for you.
Written Assignments & Evaluation of Course Work:
There will be (1) three text recognition tests (one for Tyler and for each of the two
novels and (2) a midterm test covering material dealt with up to that time. In
addition, (3) you will be expected to write a take-home paper (the theme of which
will be chosen individually by the student on the advice and consent of the
instructor) and (4) brief response papers in the form of ten weekly question-andcomment contributions: 2 comments and three questions pertaining to the text
assigned for the given week. * The text recognition tests and the Q&C’s will count
25 percent of the final grade, the other three written assignments 55 percent. The
remaining 20% can be earned and accumulated through active involvement in
problem development and solution discussion in the individual seminars and the
relevance, didactic approach and linguistic level of the oral reports.
Miscellaneous Remarks:
(1) "Plagiarism" will result in a failing grade for this course and additional academic
discipline (for more info on this, check the Institute's current edition of Academic
Handbook).
(2) It is an essential part of the course requirements to attend all class meetings. If
you must miss a class because of illness or emergency, please let me know, and
arrange to complete any work missed.