AL 201.04
Survey of American Literature
T, Th, F 13:00-13:50, M1152, YD03, M1200
Professor Margaret (Meg) Russett-Sari
Office hours T 14:00-15:30, F 10-11:30, TB 430
russett@boun.edu.tr
This class will introduce you to major topics, themes, and authors in American literature from the
colonial period to the present. The guiding assumption of the course is that literature shapes national
culture and identity; it does not merely reflect them. Hence, we will focus on how our selected works
make and remake American democracy. We will read both short and longer works in several genres,
including short stories, nonfiction, and poetry.
Texts
All primary texts for the class, as well as background readings, are available in a packet to be purchased
from Günel Fotokopi in Hisar Üstü. Please bring this packet to class every day, beginning Tuesday 1/10.
Requirements and Expectations
1) Attendance and timely completion of the assigned readings are required. Each class meeting
(beginning Th 1/10) will begin with a short multiple-choice quiz on that day’s reading
assignment. You must be on time to complete the quiz, and missed quizzes cannot be made up.
Your cumulative grade on these quizzes will constitute 20% of your final grade.
2) Learning is a collaborative endeavor. You are expected to participate in this class, not just to
listen passively. Class meetings will combine informal lectures with questions and open
discussion; thoughtful remarks can substantially improve your overall grade. To encourage such
participation, I may call on students randomly from time to time. THE CLASS PARTICIPATION
COMPONENT WILL ALSO INCLUDE AN INFORMAL GROUP PRESENTATION NEAR THE END OF THE
TERM. Do not be afraid: all contributions will be acknowledged. 10%
3) True understanding of a literary text only happens when you write about it. Two short (2 pages,
double-spaced) papers will be due on the dates listed below. You will have a choice of several
assigned topics for each paper. Late papers will be penalized by one-half of a letter grade for
each day you exceed the deadline. Each paper is worth 10% of your final grade.
4) The remainder of your grade will be determined by the midterm (20%) and final (30%) exams.
These will be include textual identifications, short-answer questions, and brief timed essays.
Dates for both exams are set by the university and will be announced later in the semester.
5) My office hours are listed at the top of this page, and I will maintain an “open-door” policy
during those hours. You may come individually or in small groups, to discuss any aspect of the
course and our readings. No appointment is necessary. If you wish to see me outside those
posted hours, please make a prior appointment in advance via email.
6) If you give me your best effort in this class, be assured that I will notice and reciprocate. If you
slack off in attendance, or turn in slipshod work, be assured that I will notice that too. It goes
without saying that all written work must represent your own effort, and that university policies
on academic integrity will be strictly enforced.
SCHEDULE
Liberty, Equality, and the Pursuit of Happiness
T 29/9
Introduction; Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence
“Discovering” America
Th 1/10
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, selections from The Relation…; John Smith, from The
General History of Virginia…
F 2/10
William Bradford, from Of Plymouth Plantation; selections from “Native Americans:
Contact and Conflict”; “A Notable Exploit”
What is an American?
T 6/10
Cotton Mather, from The Wonders of the Invisible World; Jonathan Edwards, from
“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
T 8/10
Benjamin Franklin, “Information to Those Who Would Remove to America”; “Remarks
Concerning the Savages of North America”
F 9/10
J. Hector St. John de Crevecoeur, from Letters from an American Farmer
T 13/10
Thomas Paine, from Common Sense and The Crisis; Judith Sargent Murray, from “On the
Equality of the Sexes”; Phyllis Wheatley, “On Being Brought from Africa to America,” “To
the Right Honorable William, Earl of Dartmouth”
Nature and the New
Th 15/10
Ralph Waldo Emerson, selections from Nature
F 16/10
Emerson, Nature, continued
T 20/10
Henry David Thoreau, from Walden (Chap. 1, “Economy”)
Th 22/10
Walden, cont’d.
Ghosts of Europe
F 23/10
Nathaniel Hawthorne, “My Kinsman, Major Molineux”
T 27/10
Hawthorne, “Rappaccini’s Daughter”
Th 29/10
Cumhuriyet Bayramı—no class meeting
F 30/10
Edgar Allan Poe, “The Fall of the House of Usher”
T 3/11
Poe, “Ligeia”
Race and Slavery
Th 5/11
Thomas Jefferson, from Notes on the State of Virginia; Sojourner Truth, “Speech to the
Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio, 1851”; begin Frederick Douglass, Narrative
Of the Life of Frederick Douglass
F 6/11
Douglass, Narrative, cont’d.
FIRST PAPER DUE
T 10/11
Mark Twain, Puddn’head Wilson, chaps. 1-4
Th 12/11
Begin Herman Melville, Benito Cereno.
F 13/11
Melville, Benito Cereno, continue
T 17/11
Melville, Benito Cereno, conclude
The American Poet
Th 19/11
Walt Whitman, from Leaves of Grass
F 20/11
Whitman, Leaves of Grass, cont’d.
T 24/11
Emily Dickinson, selected poems
Innocence Abroad
Th 26/11
Henry James, “Daisy Miller”
F 27/11
James, “Daisy Miller,” cont’d.
T 1/12
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Modernism and the Harlem Renaissance
Th 3/12
Selected poems by Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Marianne Moore, T. S. Eliot,
Wallace Stevens, Langston Hughes
F 4/12
Modernist Poems, cont’d.
T 8/12
Ralph Ellison, from Invisible Man (chap. 1)
Southern Gothic
Th 10/12
William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily”
F 11/12
Flannery O’Connor, “A Good Man is Hard to Find”
SECOND PAPER DUE
Midcentury Poetry and Protest
T 15/12
Allen Ginsberg, “Howl” (part 1); Sylvia Plath, “Lady Lazarus,” “Daddy”
Multiculturalism and the Contemporary American Short Story
Th 17/12
Begin short stories by Sherman Alexie, Percival Everett, Aimee Bender and others
(precise assignment TBA); in-class group discussions. No quizzes 17/12-25/12.
F 18/12
Short story presentations
T 22/12
Short story presentations
Th 24/12
Conclusion
F 25/12
Christmas—no class meeting