AJ3BP_AL19 American Literature from Beginnings to the End of the 19th century

Faculty of Education
Autumn 2005
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 3 credit(s). Type of Completion: zk (examination).
Teacher(s)
PhDr. Irena Přibylová, Ph.D. (lecturer)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, Ph.D.
Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Mgr. Petra Hoydenová
Timetable
Thu 14:35–16:15 učebna 59
Prerequisites
Read compulsory books, study from the list of recommended literature, attend regularly, bring books to classes, keep a reader's diary.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
An introduction to American literature in English from its beginning in the 17th century to the early 20th century. The course is organized chronologically, it puts stress on artistic influences of the age of reason, romanticism, realism, and naturalism. It also introduces American oral literature of that period.
Syllabus
  • Week 1 ( Sept 30 * Oct. 5): The American literature: an outline from the beginnings to the present; the role of migration, the movement of the frontier. Geography and literature. Week 2 (Oct. 7 * 12): Colonial literature; autobiographies, diaries, poetry, captivity stories; the role of the Bible. Reading: The Bible (bring your own copy!); An Indian Princess Pocahontas and John Smith (handout). Week 3 (Oct. 14 * 19): Revolution and Enlightenment; letters, essays, speeches, proclamations, dictionaries. Reading from: The Declaration of Independence (bring your own copy!); St. Jean de Crevecouer: What is an American? (handout). Week 4 (Oct. 21 * 26): Oral literature: legends, tall tales, proverbs, ballads, plantation tales, spirituals, gospels, blues, dirty dozens; the role of music. Reading: from Poor Richards Almanac by Benjamin Franklin (handout); tall tales (handout); spirituals (handout). Week 5 (Nov. 3 * 4): Romanticism: the noble savage, history, the woods. Reading from: Rip Van Winkle (handout); from the Leatherstocking series (bring your own copy!) Discuss Poe. Week 6 (Nov. 9 * 11): Romanticism and social reforms; Transcendentalism. Reading from H. B. Stowe, F. Douglass, and Emerson and Thoreau (handouts). Week 7 (Nov. 16 * 18): Romanticism; symbolist novels. Reading from Hawthorne and Melville (bring your own copies!). Week 8 (Nov. 23 * 25): The 19th century poetry. Reading from Poe, Longfellow, Whitman, and Dickinson. (handouts available). Week 9 (Nov. 30 * Dec. 2): Realism and region; the role of low literature. Reading from The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (bring your own copy!); Uncle Remus Stories (handout); The Luck of the Roaring Camp (handout). Week 10 (Dec. 7 * 9): Realism, race and gender; the coming of psychology. Reading from Daisy Miller (bring your own copy!); Little Women (handout); and Awakening (handout). Week 11 (Dec. 14 * 16): Naturalism; the role of science. Reading from The Red Badge of Courage (bring your own copy!); and John the Barleycorn (handout).
Literature
  • BRADBURY, Malcolm. Od puritanismu k postmodernismu : dějiny americké literatury. Edited by Richard Ruland, Translated by Marcel Arbeit. Vyd. 1. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997, 492 s. ISBN 8020405860. info
  • BRADBURY, Malcolm and Richard RULAND. From puritanism to postmodernism : a history of American literature. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books, 1991, 456 s. ISBN 0-14-014435-8. info
  • The Columbia history of the American novel. Edited by Emory Elliott - Cathy N. Davidson. New York: Columbia University, 1991, xviii, 905. ISBN 0-231-07360-7. info
  • An Early American Reader. Washington: US Inf.Agency, 1990, 741 s. info
  • An early American reader. Edited by J. A. Leo Lemay. Washington: United States Information Agency, 1988, xxiii, 741. info
  • VANSPANCKEREN, Kathryn. Nástin americké literatury. [Praha]: Informační agentura Spojených států, 137 s. info
Assessment methods (in Czech)
read compulsory literature, keep a reader's diary, bring books to classes, answer final questions
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2004, Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2008.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2005, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/autumn2005/AJ3BP_AL19