Assignments:

In addition to reading and active classroom participation, assignments for the course will include two short papers (3-5 pages) and one seminar presentation (5-10 minutes).  Seminar participants will also write a longer research paper (10 pages), which may be an extensive revision of one of the shorter papers or seminar presentation. 

Tentative Weekly Schedule:

Introduction

Week 1:

1/9: Introductions, Syllabus
1/11: The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, selections (handout)

Discovery

Week 2:

1/16: Columbus’s Letter (Handout) and Amerigo Vespucci (Handout)
1/18: Begin Discovery of Guiana

Week 3:

1/23: Raleigh, Guiana
1/25: Raleigh, Guiana, and begin Faerie Queene, Book III

Week 4:

1/30: Faerie Queene, Book III
2/1: Faerie Queene, Book III
First Essay Due

Staging Empire

Week 5:

2/6 Tamburlaine
2/8 Tamburlaine

Week 6:

2/13 Henry V
2/15 Henry V

Week 7:

2/20 The Tempest
2/22 The Tempest

Week 8:

2/27 The Island Princess
3/1 The Island Princess

Spring Break (Week of 3/5)

Narratives of Empire

Week 10:

3/13 Cohen Essay
3/15 No Class, Second Essay Due

Week 11:

3/20 Utopia
3/22 Utopia

Week 12

3/27 Oroonoko
3/29 Oroonoko

Week 13:

4/3 Robinson Crusoe
4/5 Robinson Crusoe

Week 14:

4/10 Female American
4/12 Female American

Week 15:

4/17 Inkle and Yoriko
4/19 Last Day of Classes

Final Essay Due at the End of Reading Week