The Dawn of Modernity in American Letters



The Dawn of Modernity in American Literature

L451-01, Thursday, 4.30-7:15 p.m., Bunting 431

Paul Jaskunas: pjaskunas@mica.edu, 202.253.4077, Bunting 405

Office Hours: Monday, 4-5 and by appointment

This seminar will explore the literary history of America’s mid- to late-nineteenth century. During this time, the abolitionist movement reached its apex, Lincoln emancipated the slaves, the North defeated the Confederacy, and Reconstruction came to the South. The country witnessed the rise of the women’s suffragist movement, the advent of Darwinian thought and great leaps in technology and industry. In short, the United States became recognizably modern in this time period, and the nation’s writers played a vital role in creating works that would reflect, anticipate, and advance the changes under way in the culture at large.

The reading list includes essays by Emerson, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., William James, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Du Bois; the poetry of Walt Whitman, novellas by Herman Melville and Stephen Crane, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn, Chopin’s The Awakening, and The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton.

Required Books (listed in order of need)

• Leaves of Grass, The Original 1855 edition, by Walt Whitman (Dover edition)

• Bartleby, the Scrivener by Herman Melville (Melville House)

• The Metaphysical Club by Louis Menand (FSG)

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain (Oxford World’s Classics)

• The Red Badge of Courage and Other Stories by Stephen Crane (Penguin)

• The Awakening and Other Stories by Kate Chopin (Penguin)

• The House of Mirth by Edith Wharton (Oxford World’s Classics)

Conversation Assignment

Once a semester, each of you will have the pleasure of having an in-depth conversation with a peer about one of our reading assignments and then presenting the fruits of that conversation to the class. Attached to this syllabus is a handout that explains this important class requirement in detail.

Reading Q&A’s

In advance of six of our class meetings, you will be required to post on ‘Moodle’ a thoughtful, challenging question about that week’s reading and your best answer to it. In some cases, I may provide the question to which you are to respond.

When the question is up to you, it should reflect something you find perplexing about the work at hand. In other words, it should introduce some intellectual problem or difficulty presented by the literature. I don’t expect your answers to these questions or problems to be conclusive, to resolve all conflicts or contradictions, but they should reflect rigorous engagement with the text and cite and discuss at least one passage in that week’s reading.

What you submit will form the basis for class discussion, so consider the work you put into drafting these “Q&A’s” a high priority. At least three of the six required submissions must be submitted before Fall Break; aside from this requirement, I leave up to your discretion when you do the work.

Mid-term exam

Half way through the course, you will take a short in-class exam covering the early readings.

Final Exam

On the last day of class, you will take an in-class bluebook exam requiring you to write two essays regarding the semester’s reading.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas without acknowledgment. Submitting work containing plagiarism is grounds for failure of an assignment or failure of the course. Repeat offenses will be brought to the attention of the Chair of the Humanistic Studies Department. To be responsible when summarizing, paraphrasing, or quoting, include a citation like:

“I read in yesterday’s New York Times that…”

“As Simone de Beauvoir famously asserts: ‘One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.’”

“My roommate Pete noticed that…”

Evaluation

Conversation Assignment: 20 percent of final grade / Reading Q&A’s: 20 percent / Participation: 10 percent / Mid-term exam: 20 percent / Final exam: 30 percent

Class Attendance

Three unexcused absences will result in failure of the class. If you need to discuss your attendance with me at any time, e-mail me at pjaskunas@mica.edu.

Student Learning Objectives

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Identify salient historical forces that influenced the development of American literature in the mid- and late-nineteenth century;

• Identify defining characteristics of certain literary/intellectual movements, including literary naturalism, impressionism, realism, and pragmatism.

• Write a coherent analytical essay about the works on the reading list;

• Converse knowledgably about the outstanding strengths of the literature at hand.

Office Hours

4-5, Mondays.

You can always drop by my office for an unscheduled conference during office hours when MICA classes are in session. If you’d like to schedule a meeting at another time, contact me at the above email address or see me before or after class.

Environmental Health and Safety

It is the responsibility of faculty and students to follow health and safety guidelines relevant to their individual activities, processes, and to review MICA’s Emergency Action Plan and attend EHS training. It is each faculty member’s responsibility to coordinate with the EHS Office to ensure that all risks associated with their class activities are identified and to assure that their respective classroom procedures mirror the EHS and Academic Department guidelines. Each of these policies and procedures must be followed by all students and faculty. Most importantly, faculty are to act in accordance with all safety compliance, state and federal, as employees of this college and are expected to act as examples of how to create art in a way to minimize risk, and reduce harm to themselves and the environment. Faculty must identify and require appropriate personal protective equipment for each art making process, for each student, in all of their classes, when applicable. Students are required to purchase personal protection equipment appropriate for their major. Those students who do not have the proper personal protection equipment will not be permitted to attend class until safe measures and personal protection are in place.

ADA Compliance Statement

Any student who may need an accommodation based on the potential impact of a disability should contact the Learning Resource Center at 410-225-2416, in Bunting 458, to establish eligibility and coordinate reasonable accommodations. For more information, please refer to: .

Reading Schedule (subject to change)

8/30 – Introductions

9/6 – “Self-Reliance” by Emerson and excerpt from Whitman’s Leaves of Grass (1855)

9/13 – Melville, “Bartleby, The Scrivener” (1853)

9/20 – Menand, Part One of The Metaphysical Club, and Holmes handout

9/27 – Menand, Part Two and pgs 351-358 of The Metaphysical Club, and W. James handout

10/4 – Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884)

10/11 – Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

10/18 – Midterm Quiz

10/25 – “The Aspern Papers” by Henry James (handout)

11/1 – Crane, The Red Badge of Courage (1895)

11/8 – Chopin, The Awakening (1899)

11/15 – Washington/Du Bois, handout

11/22 – Thanksgiving, no class

11/29 – Wharton, The House of Mirth (1905)

12/6 – Wharton, The House of Mirth

12/13 – Final

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