Early American Literature: American Literature and Ideology from Jamestown to the Civil War
Eric Cheyfitz profile
MWF 12-1
This course will look at American literature from the colonial period
to the Civil War within the context of some crucial historical forces,
the ongoing effects of which inform this literature and are very much
with us today. The dispossession of American Indians, slavery, and
conflicts of gender and class will concern us, as we raise questions
about the historic relationship between capitalism and democracy.
Texts to be read come from a list that includes: Shakespeare's The
Tempest, John Smith's True Relation (of Virginia), the captivity
narrative of Mary Rowlandson, Lydia Maria child's Hobomok, Cooper's
The Last of the Mohicans, the autobiography of Black Hawk, Narrative
of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jocobs' Incidents in the
Life of a Slave Girl, Melville's "Benito Cereno" and Sarah Grimke's
Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, John Winthrop's "A Model of
Christian Charity," the Federalist, Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography,
Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," Emerson's "Self Reliance," and
Hawthorne's The House of the Seven Gables. Requirements: Two five-
page papers, and a final paper of 10-12 pages.
updated 2006-10-05
