Carolyn L. Karcher

Survey of American Literature Syllabus

Required text:

Heath Anthology of American Literature, Vol. I
Reading assignments must be completed by the date specified. Be prepared for quizzes!

Tu Jan. 21: Introduction to the course

Th Jan. 23: Native American Traditions--Winnebago, Pima, Zuni:

  • pp. 3-7 ("Colonial Period"),
  • 22-40 ("Native American Traditions," "This Newly Created World," "Emergence Song," "Talk Concerning the First Beginning");
  • 2641-63 ("Native American Oral Poetry," "Sayatasha's Night Chant")

    Tu Jan. 28: Native American Traditions--Navajo, Tlingit, Tsimshian:

  • pp. 40-52 ("Changing Woman and the Hero Twins");
  • 59-66 ("Raven and Marriage," "Raven Makes a Girl Sick")

    Th Jan. 30: Spanish Explorers, Captives, Conquerors:

  • pp. 7-10 ("Colonial Period");
  • 67-69 ("Literature of Discovery");
  • 69-80 (Columbus: Journal of the First Voyage to America),
  • 89-99 (Cabeza de Vaca: Relation);
  • 120-31 (Villagra: History of New Mexico)

    Tu Feb. 4: Spanish Colonizers and Native Americans:

  • 52-55 ("Coming of the Spanish and Pueblo Revolt," Hopi);
  • 431-32 ("Pueblo Revolt and Spanish Reconquest");
  • 433-40 (Otermin, "Letter on Pueblo Revolt");
  • 756-61 (Report by Delgado);
  • 80-88 ("Virgin of Guadalupe")

    Th Feb. 6: English Colonists in Virginia and the Puritan Mission in New England:

  • pp. 10-21 ("Colonial Period");
  • 146-59 (Smith: True Relation, General Historie, "Description of New England," "Advertisements");
  • 172-76 (Frethorne, Letters);
  • 188-99 (Winthrop: "Modell of Christian Charity")

    Tu Feb. 11:Puritan Colonists and Native Americans:

  • pp. 210-32 (Bradford: Of Plymouth Plantation);
  • 317-42 (Rowlandson: Narrative of Captivity)

    Th Feb. 13: Puritan Poetry:

  • 256-60, 272-73, 276 (Bradstreet: "Prologue," "Author to Her Book, "Before the Birth," "To My Dear Husband," "Letter to Her Husband," In Memory of My Grandchild");
  • 295-97 ("Bay Psalm Book" and "New-England Primer"),
  • 304 (Psalm 23);
  • 308, 309 (New England Primer: Alphabet, Verses);
  • 342-46, 363-65, 366-67, 373-74 ("Huswifery," "Upon Wedlock," "Prologue," "Meditation 26")

    Tu Feb. 18: Colonial Period 1700-1800--Varieties of Eighteenth- Century Religious Experience, Puritan and Quaker:

  • 448-69 ("Colonial Period);
  • 512-16, 545-66 (Edwards: "Personal Narrative," "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God");
  • 604-10 (Woolman: "Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes")

    Th Feb. 20: Who (What) Are Americans?--Revolutionary Ideals and their Contradictions:

  • 890-91, 895-907 (Crevecoeur: "Letters from an American Farmer" #3, #9);
  • 957-64, 965-71 (Jefferson: Declaration of Independence; Notes on the State of Virginia, Queries 6, 11, 14 [xerox handout], 18);
  • 1042-43, 1059-61, 1067-68 (Freneau: "To Sir Toby," "The Indian Burying Ground"

    Tu Feb. 25: Who (What) Are Americans?--African American Voices:

  • 694-712 (Vassa/Equiano: Interesting Narrative);
  • 712-15, 718, 720-24, 727-28 (Wheatley: "On Whitefield," "On Being Brought from Africa," "To University of Cambridge," "Phillis's Reply," "To Washington," Letter to Occom);
  • 685-94 (Prince Hall: "Petition," "Charge to African Lodge")

    Th Feb. 27: Who (What) Are Americans?--Native American Voices:

  • 728-35 (Occom: "Short Narrative");
  • 1752-53 ("Issues and Visions");
  • 1753-60 (Apes: "An Indian's Looking-Glass for the White Man");
  • 1760-69 (Boudinot: "Address to the Whites"),
  • 1769-72 (Seattle/Suquamish: Speech)

    Tu Mar. 3:Who (What) Are Americans?--Benjamin Franklin, Embodiment of the American Dream:

  • 776-80, 823-81 (Franklin, Autobiography)

    Th Mar. 5: Myths, Tales, and Legends:

  • 1214-16 ("Myths, Tales, and Legends");
  • 1216-22 (Schoolcraft: "Mishosha");
  • 1228-36 (Hispanic Cuentos: "La comadre Sebastiani," "Los tres hermanos");
  • 1238-39, 1248-60 (Irving: "Rip Van Winkle")

    SPRING VACATION

    Tu Mar. 17: Early Nineteenth Century--Versions of Transcendentalism:

  • 1180-1213 ("Early Nineteenth Century");
  • 1467- 70, 1499-1528, 1568-69, 1579 (Emerson: "American Scholar," Self- Reliance," "Snow-Storm," "Days")
    PAPER #1 DUE

    Th Mar. 19:Versions of Transcendentalism:

  • 1964-1981, 2016-31 (Thoreau: "Resistance to Civil Government," "Plea for John Brown")

    Tu Mar. 24: Women's Rights:

  • 1825-26, 1886-90 (S. Grimke: Letters on the Equality of the Sexes, #8);
  • 1580-82, 1604-26 (Fuller: Woman in the 19th Century);
  • 1893-95, 1897-99 (Stanton: "Declaration of Sentiments");
  • 1899-1902, 1903-1904, 1907-1908 (Fern: "Hints to Young Wives," "Soliloquy of a Housemaid," "Working-Girls of NY");
  • 1908-13 (Sojourner Truth)

    Th Mar. 26: Varieties of Narrative and Representations of Women:

  • 2063-65 ("The Flowering of Narrative");
  • 1322-25, 1333-44, 1362- 64 (Poe: "Ligeia,""Oval Portrait")

    Tu Mar. 31: Varieties of Narrative and Representations of Women:

  • 2065-69, 2101-2132 (Hawthorne: "The Birth-mark," "Rappaccini's Daughter")

    Th Apr. 2: Varieties of Narrative and Representations of Women:

  • 2286-2307 (Kirkland: A New Home);
  • 2596-2613 (Cary: "Uncle Christopher's")

    Tu Apr. 7: Varieties of Narrative and Representations of Women:

  • 2400-2404, 2431 note 1, 2438-64 (Melville: Encantadas Sketch #8, "Paradise of Bachelors and Tartarus of Maids")

    Th Apr. 9: Slavery and Rebellion:

  • 1781-91 (Walker, Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World);
  • 1858-71 (Higginson, "Nat Turner's Insurrection")

    Tu Apr. 14: Slavery through the Eyes of Slaves:

  • 1637-1704 (Douglass: Narrative);
  • 2671-74, 2676-79 (Slave Songs: "Lay Dis Body Down," "Steal Away," "There's a Meeting," "Many Thousand Go," "Go Down, Moses," "Didn't My Lord")

    Th Apr. 16: Slavery through the Eyes of Slaves and Women:

  • 1723-50 (Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl);
  • 1795-98, 1809- 12 (Child: "Preface" to Appeal, "Slavery's Pleasant Homes")

    Tu Apr. 21: A Fictional Perspective on Slavery:

  • 2464-2522 (Melville: "Benito Cereno")

    Th Apr. 23: Emergence of American Poetic Voices--Whitman:

  • 2638-40 ("Emergence");
  • 2709-12, 2778-88, 2790-91, 2793-98, 2810-17 (Whitman, "Sleepers," "There Was Child," "In Paths Untrodden," "Out of the Cradle," "When Lilacs Last")

    Tu Apr. 28: Emergence of American Poetic Voices--Dickinson:

  • 2838- 44 and Poems # 219, 258, 280, 315, 328, 341, 435, 465, 520, 569, 632, 712, 754, 1129

    Th Apr. 30:

  • Review for Final Exam;
  • Course Evaluation
    PAPER #2 DUE

    FINAL EXAM: DATE AND TIME TO BE ANNOUNCED

    This page was prepared by Audrey Mickahail at the Center for Electronic Projects in American Culture Studies (CEPACS), housed at Georgetown University, under the direction of Randy Bass, Department of English.


    CEPACS