Kessler (Penn St U--Delaware County)

Absract

This course is an historically-based survey course covering American literature from 1865 to about the present. It is designed for English majors and others interested the the character and history of United States literature. Students read representative major, as well as minor, writers from various literary periods and movements. Readings will be set in an historical and cultural context.

Texts

Required Texts: Heath Anthology of American Literature, Paul Lauter ed., at. al. (1990), Volume Two.

Readings & Pedagogy

Week # 1

WOMEN'S NARRATIVES I

Late Nineteenth Century: 1865-1910: Development of Women's Narratives

Rebecca Harding Davis , "Life in the Iron Mills"; Louisa May Alcott , Work ; Elizabeth Stuart Phelps , The Story of Avis

Week # 2

WOMEN'SNARRATIVES II -- REGIONAL AND NATIONAL VOICES

Sarah Orne Jewett , "A White Heron"; Mary Wilkins Freeman , "Old Woman Magoun"; Pauline Hopkins , Contending Forces

Regional Voices National Voices

Samuel Clemens , The Gilded Age ; George Washington Cable , "Belles Demoiselles Plantation"; Charles Chesnutt , "The Goophered Grapevine"

Week # 3

ISSUES IN THE LATE 19TH C

William Dean Howells , "Editha"; Henry James , "The Beast in the Jungle"; Kate Chopin , "Desiree's Baby," "Story of an Hour," "Storm", Stephen Crane , "A Mystery of Heroism"; Jack London , "To Build a Fire"

Issues and Visions in Post-Civil War America

Standing Bear ; Ghost Dance Songs ; Charles Eastman Film : "More Than Bows and Arrows" 1978 52 min

Week # 4

ISSUES AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY

W.E.B. Du Bois , The Souls of Souls Folk ; Paul Laurence Dunbar , "Mr. Cornelius Johnson, Office-Seeker" 473; Alice Dunbar-Nelson , "Sister Josepha" 504; Charlotte Perkins Gilman , all; Henry Adams , all

Week # 5

NEW EXPLORATIONS OF AN 'AMERICAN' SELF

Abraham Cahan , Yekl ; Edith Eaton , "Leaves from the Portfolio of an Eurasian"; Gertrude Bonnin , School Days of an Indian Girl; Mary Antin , The Promised Land . Film "The Golden Land" 1984 58 min; "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" #7">

Modern Period: 1910-1945: TOWARD MODERNISM

Edith Wharton , "The Other Two"; Willa Cather , "Old Mrs. Harris"

Week # 6

ALIENTATION AND LITERARY EXPERIMENTATION

T.S. Eliot , 1301; Louise Bogan , 1382, 1383, 1387; FILM "The Mysterious Mr. Eliot" 1973 63 min; Gertrude Stein , "Making of Americans, "Ada"; Djuna Barnes "Smoke"; Elizabeth Madox Roberts , "Death at Bearwallow"; Katherine Anne Porter , "The Grave"

Week # 7

MODERN FICTION

Ernest Hemingway , "Hills Like White Elephants" Faulkner , "A Courtship"

MIDTERM ESSAY

MIDTERM: 8-page essay due; 100 Word Proposal due 2 weeks in advance)

Week # 8

GLASPELL / O'NEILL

Susan Glaspell , "Trifles" 1076; Eugene O'Neill , "The Hairy Ape" 1225;

HARLEM RENAISSANCE

Alain Locke , "The New Negro"; Jean Toomer , Cane ; Langston Hughes , 1488, 1500, 1506; Countee Cullen 1513; James Weldon Johnson 1555; Claude McKay 1559;

FILM "Harlem Renaissance: The Black Poets" 1971 20 min

Week # 9

AFRICAN AMERICAN FICTION

Zora Neale Hurston , "Sweat," "The Gilded Six-Bits"; Nella Larsen , Passing

ISSUES AND VISIONS IN MODERN AMERICA

John Dos Passos , "The Body of an American"; Lillian Hellman , Scoundrel Time; Meridel LeSueur , "Women on the Breadlines"; Whitecloud , "Blue Winds Dancing"

Week # 10

FURTHER EXPLORATIONS OF AN 'AMERICAN' SELF

Anzia Yezierska , "America and I"; Pietro Di Donato , Christ in Concrete; Mourning Dove, Coyote Stories ; Younghill Kang , East Goes West ; Read Poetry author-intros 2280-2585; Discuss 2-page proposal for Final essay; "Carved on the Walls" in class

Film : "Storm of Strangers" 1977, 29 min

Week # 11

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD (1945-PRESENT): DRAMA

Tennessee Williams , "Portrait of a Madonna" 2190: PROPOSAL due on author intros 2280-2585

Week # 12

CONTEMPORARY PROSE:

AFRICAN AMERICAN

Richard Wright , "The Man Who Was Almost a Man" 1786; Paule Marshall , "To Da-duh, in Memoriam" 1969

HISPANIC AMERICAN

Carlos Bulosan , "Silence" 1840; Nicholasa Mohr (Puertoriquenal) ; Rituals of Survival 2048; Tomás Rivera (Chicano) "...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him" 2056;

FILMS "Hispanic America" 1980 13 min; "How's School, Enrique?" 1971 18 min

Week # 13

CONTEMPORARY PROSE

NATIVE AMERICAN

N. Scott Momaday (Kiowa") The Way to Rainy Mountain, 2038; Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna), "Lullaby" 2167

JEWISH AMERICAN:

Saul Bellow , "Looking for Mr. Green" 1855; Grace Paley , "The Loudest Voice" 1882

Week # 14

CONTEMPORARY PROSE

JAPANESE AMERICAN:

Hisaye Yamamoto , "Seventeen Syllables" 1871; John Okada , No- No Boy 1900

ANGLO AMERICAN

John Updike , "Separating" 2007; Bobbi Ann Mason, "Shiloh" 2115

Week # 15

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD (1945-PRESENT): POETRY

Individual presentations