AMERICAN LITERATURE I ENG 265 (601)
Course website: https://moodle.wolfware.ncsu.edu/login/index.php
Fall 2010
Instructor: Prof. Carmine Prioli <prioli@ncsu.edu>
Required texts:
1. All of the readings for this course are in the public domain and are available
on-line at: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/course/eng/265/. However, you need to
download hard copies of indicated PDF pages from the E-reserves. If you
would prefer hard copy versions of specific course readings, most will be found
in just about any anthology that you may purchase on your own. Specifically,
there is Anthology of AmericanLiterature (any recent edition), vol. 1, George
McMichael, ed., (Pearson/Prentice Hall).
2. The Scarlet Letter: A Romance, Nathaniel Hawthorne. Any good edition or
on-line text
3. Moby Dick, or The Whale, Herman Melville. Any good edition or on-line
text. (Esp the version edited by Charles Feidelson, Jr.)
GER information: This course satisfies the NCSU GER in literature.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
EXAMS:
There will be two exams: a mid-term (1½ hrs) and final (3hrs). They will consist of brief
essay discussions of terms, quotations, or images discussed in class (4 out of 5 items for the mid-term; 8 out
of 10 for the final). Both exams will be hand-written and taken at the Delta testing facility or at an
approved off-campus testing site.
In nearly every class session, we will be closely analyzing passages or images for stylistic elements and
themes. The writing assignments and the exams will require this same kind of analysis. They will also
demand precision and accuracy of information, so it is extremely important that you view all classes and
take careful notes.
ESSAYS:
There will be two essays (3-4 pp; 1200-1500 words), one due early in the course and
another, due during the second-last week of classes. Topics for these essays will be announced. (Topics
may vary from those discussed in the lectures.) For information on evaluation criteria, see "Goals and
Standards of Composition” on E-reserve. Essays will be submitted on-line as Word documents.
INCOMPLETE GRADES AND LATE ASSIGNMENTS: The grade of “I” (Incomplete) will only be
given to students who have successfully completed most of the course work but who experience some
serious difficulty beyond their control in the last two or three weeks of the course. Essays turned in late will
be accepted only at the instructor’s discretion and will be penalized for each day the assignment is overdue.
FINAL GRADE: If all tests and papers have been turned in and completed on time, the final grade will
be computed as follows:
Mid-term exam
Essays: (20% each):
Final Exam:
20
40
40
100%
The final grade will be computed on the following numerical scale and letter equivalencies:
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97-100 = A+; 93-96 = A; 90-92 = A-; 87-89 = B+; 83-86 = B; 80-82 = B-; 77-79 = C+; 73-76 = C;
70-72 = C-; 67-69 = D+; 63-66 = D; 60-62 = D-; 0-59 = F.
UNIVERSITY POLICIES:
1.
Academic Integrity: In all matters related to academic integrity, this course will adhere to
the rules set out in the NCSU Code of Student Conduct. Students will be expected to
familiarize themselves with these rules (see http://www.fis.ncsu.edu:80/ncsulegal/41.03codeof.htm) and to uphold the principle and spirit of the Honor Pledge: “I have neither given
nor received unauthorized aid on this test or assignment.”
2.
PLAGIARISM: All instances of plagiarism will be reported to the Office of Student
Conduct and will result in an “F” for the course. Plagiarism includes the undocumented,
unquoted use of ANY information obtained on the web, as well as material published in
magazines, journals, newspapers and books.
(see also http://www.ncsu.edu/student_affairs/osc/alpage/acaintegrity.html)
3.
For NCSU policies on non-discrimination, see: http://www.fis.ncsu.edu/ncsulegal/aregdiscrimination.html.
4.
For NCSU policies on working with students with disabilities, see:
http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/hat/current/appendix/appen_k.html.
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
In ENG 265, students will:
A. Move from learning historical and literary facts to making reasoned judgments grounded in
the academic content of the course.
B. Learn how specific, concrete images, icons, ideas, or concepts expressed in literary texts and
visual images can help us understand and explore the more complex history, philosophy, and
theology that frame the British-American experience and that contribute to the creation of the
“American character.”
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
In ENG 265, students will:
A. Make both reasoned and imaginative judgments about how such factors as technology,
gender, religious principles, life, love, and death inform the creation of American literature
(poetry, fiction, and non-fiction), and of distinctly American experiences and literary
characters.
B. Develop original insights using critical, creative, and imaginative thinking into the ways in
which American poetry, fiction, and non-fiction help us understand and engage in the human
experience.
C. Express these judgments and original insights over time in written essays and exams.
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READINGS ON E-RESERVE (USE ADOBE ACROBAT):
Part I: The Literature of Early America
1. Lectures 001-010: Course Intro and Literature of exploration and colonization
Background reading:
"American Beginnings: The European Presence in North America, 1492-1690"
National Humanities Center Toolbox Library [read for information]
Admiral Christopher Columbus and Sir Thomas Hariot:
DOWNLOAD AND READ:
--"Christopher Columbus: Extracts from Journal" [PDF pages 1-15]
--Thomas Hariot's A Briefe and True Report. [PDF pages: 26-35; 42-47; 59-61; 6566; 68.]
--"Virginia Dare and the Lost Colony" [3 pages]
Id's for Columbus and Hariot:
The four voyages of Christopher Columbus
The Columbian Exchange
El Dorado and the New Canaan
The Roanoke Voyages of Sir Walter Raleigh
The Lost Colony
Governor John White
Ananias and Eleanor Dare
Virginia Dare
Manteo and Wanchese
uppowoc
"invisible bullets"
[1st essay due, Tuesday, Sept 14, by 5 PM]
2.Lectures 011-016: Captain John Smith and the New World’s Princess
Background reading: "Becoming American: The British Atlantic Colonies, 16901763" (National Humanities Center Tool Box Library) [read for information]
DOWNLOAD AND READ:
--A Description of New England [PDF pages 34-36; 43-44; 46-47; 63-65; 70-72]
--The True Travels, Adventures and Observations of Captain Iohn Smith [PDF pages
1-21]
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Id's:
A True Relation (1608)
A Description of New England (1616)
James Towne
Pocahontas/Rebecca Rolfe
"To conquer is to live"
"tuftaffaty humorists"
"We're lost!!!"
3.Lectures 017-022: The Plymouth Experience
DOWNLOAD AND READ:
--Of Plymouth Plantation [PDF pages 28-30; 36-44; 50-56; 86-88; 96-98; 134; 386]
Id's:
The "Golden Age" of Christianity
"the simple truth in all things" and the "plaine stile"
the Protestant Reformation
predestination and irresistible grace
the priesthood of all believers
Mayflower and Speedwell
Squanto and Massasoit
The Mayflower Compact
Dorothy Bradford
"muskeeto proofe" settlers
providences and corrective afflictions
The Pequot War
[Mid-term exam: Wednesday, Oct 13, schedule at
DELTA testing]
4.Lectures 023-029: Boston and the Massachusetts Bay Experience
DOWNLOAD AND READ:
--Selections from Governor John Winthrop's Journal.
Volume 1 [PDF pages 16-20 ("Contents"); 69; 88-89; 202-204; 247-248; 275-278]
Volume 2 [PDF pages 14-19 ("Contents"); 248]
(See index for both volumes at end of vol 2, pp. 382-398)
--Selections from The Bay Psalm Book. [E-reserve]
--Selections from The New England Primer. [PDF pages 46; 140; 192-199; 208]
Id's:
The Great Migration (1628-45)
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Arbella
the Mosaic Code
corrective afflictions
Anne Hutchinson
"When you sing, you pray twice."
the Old Deluder Satan Act
5.Lectures 029-032: The Poetry of Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor
DOWNLOAD AND READ:
--Anne Bradstreet's The Tenth Muse on Poetry Foundation webpage and additional
poems on E-reserve.
--"Prologue"
--"The Author to Her Book"
--"Before the Birth of One of Her Children"
--elegies to grandchildren (Elizabeth and Simon Bradstreet)
--Lydia Minot broadside on E-reserve
--Edward Taylor's selections on Poetry Foundation webpage and additional poems
at the Beinecke Library ("Acrostic for Elizabeth Fitch" and "Elegy upon the Death
of . . . Charles Chauncey)
--"Huswifery"
--"I am the Living Bread"
Id's:
The Tenth Muse (1650; 1673)
extended (or sustained) metaphor
American literature's first "single mom"
"lovs ring I send / that haTh no end"
6. Lectures 032-034: Witchcraft hysteria in Salem
DOWNLOAD AND READ:
--Cotton Mather's The Wonders of the Invisible World [PDF pages 1-12; 35-40; 5457; 65-66; 144-153; 153-162; 188]
--The Diary of Judge Samuel Sewall [PDF pages 413-426; 497-501]
Id's:
spectral evidence
Tituba
Giles Corey
Rev. George Burroughs
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Judge Samuel Sewell
the "positive" consequences of witchcraft
7. Part II: Literature of the Age of Reason
Lectures 035-038: Benjamin Franklin
Background reading: "Living the Revolution: America, 1789-1820" (National
Humanities Center Toolbox Library) [read for information]
DOWNLOAD AND READ:
--"A Witch Trial at Mount Holley"
--"The Speech of Miss Polly Baker"
--The Autobiography of Ben Franklin [PDF pages 38-106; 127-130; 185-200]
--The Way to Wealth
Id's:
The Age of Reason
"Know then thyself, presume not God to scan/The proper study of mankind is
man."
Deism
tabula rasa
"A Witch Trial at Mount Holley" (1730)
"The Speech of Miss Polly Baker" (1747)
"Poor Richard" Saunders
the "Water American"
[Second essay due, Monday, Nov 22, by 5 PM]
8. Part III: The Literature of American Romanticism
Lectures 039-042: Irving, Poe, Hawthorne and Melville
Background reading: "The Triumph of Nationalism/The House Dividing: America,
1815-1850" (National Humanities Center Toolbox Library) [read for information]
DOWNLOAD AND READ SELECTIONS from Washington Irving.
from The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.
--"The Author's Account of Himself" [PDF pages 18-20]
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--"Rip van Winkle" [PDF pages 43-61]
from Tales of a Traveller
--"The Adventure of the German Student" [PDF pages 86-92]
Id's:
American Romanticism (1800-1859)
Geoffrey Crayon
Rip van Winkle and Dame van Winkle
gothic fiction
foreshadowing
9. Edgar Allen Poe
DOWNLOAD AND READ:
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
--"The Cask of Amontillado" [284-291]
--"The Tell-tale Heart" [308-318]
Id's:
illusion vs. reality
"rational irrationality"
Montresor and Fortunato
dramatic irony
foreshadowing
"...would a madman have been so wise as this?"
10. Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Scarlet Letter: A Romance.
READ CHAPTERS: 1-5; 10-14; 17-18; 21-24.
Id's:
the letter "A"
the scaffold of the pillory
the black flower vs. the wild rose
the sin of passion vs. the sin of principle
Pearl's tears
Roger Chillingworth
Hester Prynne
Arthur Dimmesdale
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11. Herman Melville
Moby Dick; or, The Whale.
READ CHAPTERS: 1-30; 34-42; 44; 47-51; 64-66; 72; 93; 106-110; 127-135.
Id's:
"Call me Ishmael."
"Me sabbee plenty."
"...a good laugh is a mighty good thing."
Peter Coffin
Queequeg's coffin
the monkey rope
the Pequod
Captain Ahab
12. Walt Whitman
(Whitman is discussed earlier in the course but will not be included in the final
exam.)
DOWNLOAD AND READ:
--from Leaves of Grass:
--"Song of Myself" [63; 109-111]
--"Song of the Broadaxe" [255-259]
--"Passage to India" [514-525]
--"Prayer of Columbus" [526-528]
[Final exam, Mon/Tues, Dec 13-14. Contact DE and schedule at least a month in
advance.]
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