SPRING 2007
Dr. David S. Shields, McClintock Professor of Southern Literature
Welsh 207, dshields@mailbox.sc.edu, 777-7630
Office Hours: T-Th 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. & by appointment
ENGL 742: EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE
The majority of class readings are web-based particularly at the (MITH) Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities site to which I am a contributor. MITH texts are password protected [name = workshop, password = readings].
Course Abstract:
The purpose of this seminar is to master the current historiography of early American literary studies, particularly in light of the “hemispheric turn” in this field since 1995. The class sessions will entail two sorts of inquiry: a practicum for textual interpretation, focusing on several key primary works and a discussion of current theoretical and historical developments in current EA scholarship. A multitude of writings were generated by the exploration of America, English colonization, imperial war, American Revolution, and Nation Building from 1580-1800. From this corpus we will focus on texts that promulgate several themes: 1. the creation of new forms of and functions for writing by Reformed Christianity 2. the “civilizing process” 3. the projection of imperial visions and the justification of aggression and piracy 4. the description of nature and the formation of new paradigms of knowing, and 5. the inscription of Enlightenment in the founding charters of the United States. All primary readings will be derived from texts found on the World Wide Web. Each participant will be responsible for a written summation and response to a key work of scholarship in the field, an interpretative profile of an early American newspaper, an historical, biographical, or interpretative note, and either a 10 page conference talk or 18 page article on a topic to be arranged in consultation with the instructor.
The final grade will be determined as follows:
| 60% conference talk/article | APR 18 |
| 20% note | MAR 21 |
| 10% response to scholarly book | FEB 14 |
| 10% class exercises |
I presume that you will attend classes regularly and inform me ahead of time when you will be absent. In the preparation of assignments I am willing to consult you individually about ideas, drafts, rhetorical strategies, and research methods prior to the assignment’s submission. The stated due date for an assignment is final—subject to no postponement for any reason short of dire illness or family tragedy. Consider it a publication deadline. Papers and assignments will not be rewritten, so do your refining before you hand the work in. This class will be administered through Blackboard. Your responses, profiles, notes, and final articles will be posted in the documents section of the ENGL 724 site. I will publish the protocols for the graded writings in the assignments section of the site. Papers will be submitted electronically as e-mail attachments by 11:59 pm on the stated due date. Standard paper format, double-spaced, 12 pt typeface (Times Roman) using either MSWord or Wordperfect. I have both an IMac and a PC so should be able to handle most formats. Footnotes in MLA Style for literary topics, Chicago Style for Book History or Cultural History topics.
Course Schedule:
January 17: Introduction—The Spanish Exploration and Conquest
January 24: The Black Legend: Bartholemew De Las Casas, The Spanish Colonie
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/lascasas.pdf
[name = workshop, password = readings]
January 29: An English Empire: Sir Walter Raleigh, The Discovery of Guiana, 1595,
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/releigh.html
January 31: The Genius of Ancient Britain: Captain John Smith, Advertisements for the Unexperienced Planters of New England
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/advertisementh.html
February 5: Pilgrims & Separatists: William Bradford, extracts from Of Plymouth Plantation
http://etext.lib.virginia.edu/users/deetz/Plymouth/bradford.html
February 7: Workshop on Writing Literary History & Historicized Interpretation
February 12: John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charitie,”
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/winthropmod.html
February 14: New England as Merry Old England Renewed
Thomas Morton, New English Canaan
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/morton.html
February 19: The Godly Muse:
Ann Bradstreet, “A Dialogue between Old England and New,”
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/braddial.html
“Contemplations”
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/braddial.html
“Verses upon the Burning of Our House”
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/braddial.html
“In Honour of . . . Queen Elizabeth,”
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/braddial.html
February 21: Why did God Inflict his Chosen with Pagan Terror? N.E. Version
Benjamin Tompson, New England’s Crisis
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/tompsonpoems.html
February 26: Why did God Inflict his Chosen with Pagan Terror? S.W. Version
Gaspar Pérez de Villagrá, Historia de la Nueva México, 1610. A Critical and Annotated Spanish/English Edition
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/villagra.html
February 28: Empire & Piracy: Shields, “Sons of the Dragon”
Class Text 1 Andre Exquemelin, Bucaniers of America pp. Pt 2: 60-end, Part 3.
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/esquemelin.html
March 5: New Caledonia: Scottish America & the Capitalist Dream
Lionel Wafer, A Description of the Isthmus of Darien
http://web.princeton.edu/sites/english/eng321/WAFER.HTM
March 7: The Bubbles—America, Projects, and Financial Fantasy
March 12-14: Spring Break
March 19: Politeness & Urbanity
David Shields, Civil Tongues & Polite Letters, Introduction, Chaps 1-3
March 21: Wit. Dr. Alexander Hamilton, The History of the Tuesday Club 1750s
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/hamilton.html
March 26: The Means of Self-Creation and Self-Improvement
Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, Sections 1 & 2
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/franktxt.html
March 28: The Revival of Religion
Jonathan Edwards, “The Wicked Man’s Slavery to Sin,”
http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/slavery.html
“A Divine and Supernatural Light”
http://www.ccel.org/e/edwards/sermons/slavery.html
A Faithful Narrative of the Surprising Work of God, Part 1
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/Narrative.html
April 2: Quaker Spirit and Woman’s Genius
Susanna Wright, Poems, Milcah Martha Moore’s Book, pp. 119-151
April 4: The moral problem of America: African Slavery
James Grainger, The Sugar-Cane Pt. 4: The Genius of Africa
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/grainger.html
April 9: The American Enlightenment
Robert Ferguson, The American Enlightenment, chapters 1-5
April 11: Independence and Revolution
Thomas Paine, The American Crisis
http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/p/p147ac/
Thomas Jefferson, “Autobiography with the Declaration of Independence,"
http://libertyonline.hypermall.com/Jefferson/Autobiography.html#declaration
April 16, Nature and Science
William Bartram, Travels through North and South Carolina, Georgia, East and West Florida
http://www.mith2.umd.edu/summit/anthology1/wbartram.html
April 18, Curiosity
Extract of Susan Scott Parrish’s American Curiosity
April 23-25: Novels and Tales
ENGL 285: UP AND DOWN THE LADDER OF SUCCESS
American Literature
MW 9:05-9:55 a.m. Gambrell 153 & Your Discussion Section Period
Discussion Group Leaders:
| Melissa Pluta | pluta@mailbox.sc.edu | sections 001, 002 |
| Kathleen Schrum | schrumk@mailbox.sc.edu | sections 003, 004, and 005 |
| Carrie Young | cyoung@sc.edu | sections 006, 007 |
| Robin Caine | cainer@mailbox.sc.edu | sections 008, 009, 012 |
| Allison Conley | conleya@mailbox.sc.edu | sections 010 and 011 |
Prospectus
American culture has an enduring obsession with the quest for personal success. From the Puritan agonizing over salvation to the American Idol contestant yearning for celebrity, images of aspiration and stories of failed hopes dominate the nation’s literature. How has success been envisioned? How does one get it? What is the cost (individually, socially, environmentally) of personal triumph? What is the recipe for failure? How glorious can success be, and how abject can failure be? What is the pathology of the quest? English 285 will explore these issues.
Format
English 285 combines lectures with small group discussion. Professor Shields and occasional guest speakers will perform the syllabus of lectures. Your assigned Discussion Group Leader will superintend your further inquiry into the issues raised in the course, assign papers, exercises, and quizzes, and will assess your performance. There will be mid-term and final examinations conducted in the Gambrell lecture hall. Your Discussion Group Leader will have absolute determination of your grade. Prof. Shields will not over-ride a Group Leader’s decision or act as a court of appeals. All communications in this course will be conducted through USC’s Blackboard system. This requires you to have an active e-mail account. Each Discussion Group Leader will post a supplementary syllabus on 285’s blackboard site laying out the graded course assignments for the semester.
Readings
Captain John Smith, Advertisements for Experienced Planters, Pearson Custom American Literature 1-45
Cotton Mather, Nehemias Americanus, The Life of John Winthrop, Pearson Custom, 46-64
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Parts 1 & 2, Pearson Custom, 65-139
Benjamin Franklin, Father Abraham’s Speech, Pearson Custom, 140-148.
Mason Weems, The Life . . . of George Washington http://xroads.virginia.edu/~CAP/gw/weems.html
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Artist of the Beautiful, Pearson Custom, 156-174
P. T. Barnum, Struggles and Triumphs of 40 Years
Sojourner Truth, The Narrative of Sojourner Truth http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/TRUTH/toc.html
Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick
William Dean Howells, The Rise of Silas Lapham
Andrew Carnegie, The Autobiography of Andrew Carnegie & The Gospel of Wealth
Nathaniel West, The Day of the Locust
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman
SCHEDULE OF LECTURES
| Jan 17 | Introduction—The Quest for Success |
| Jan 22 | Captain John Smith & the American Dream |
| Jan 24 | Smith on Class, Rank, Hierarchy |
| Jan 29 | John Winthrop & Puritan Heroism |
| Jan 31 | Winthrop: Personal Salvation or Redeemed Community? |
| Feb 5 | Benjamin Franklin & Worldly Success |
| Feb 7 | Franklin: The Rewards of Virtue |
| Feb 12 | George Washington: Public Trust and Private Character |
| Feb 14 | Hawthorne: The Failure of Artistic Personality |
| Feb 19 | Walt Whitman, Leisure & Dropping Out of the Quest for Success |
| Feb 21 | P. T. Barnum & the Value of Publicizing ones Triumphs & Tragedies |
| Feb 26 | Barnum & Counterfeit Fame |
| Feb 28 | Mid-Term Examination |
| Mar 5 | Horatio Alger & the Ragged Youths |
| Mar 7 | Horatio Alger: Rising into Power and Place |
| Mar 11-13 | Spring Break |
| Mar 19 | Sojourner Truth & the Fate of the Enslaved |
| Mar 21 | William Dean Howells: Respectability |
| Mar 26 | William Dean Howells: Fashionability |
| Apr 2 | Andrew Carnegie—The Plutocrat as Ideal American |
| Apr 4 | The Meaning of Wealth |
| Apr 9 | Beauty & the Invention of Glamour |
| Apr 11 | Nathaniel West: The Hollywood Dream Factory |
| Apr 16 | West: California as Nightmare |
| Apr 18 | The Great Depression and National Failure |
| Apr 23 | Arthur Miller & the Working Man |
| Apr 25 | Miller & the Crisis in Masculinity |
| Apr 30 | Review |
| May 3 2 pm | Final Exam |