Schedule

The following schedule is subject to change according to the demands of the class. I will announce changes to it in class when the need presents itself. Page references in parentheses below refer to the Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vols. A and B, Tenth Edition.

M August 26 Introduction
 
Part One: Arrivals in the New World, Norton Anthology, Vol. A
 
W August 28 Christopher Columbus, from "Letter of Discovery" (54-59), from "Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Regarding the Fourth Voyage" (59-61)
Bartolomé de las Casas, from "The Very Brief Relation of the Devastation of the Indies" (63-66)
 
M September 2 Labor Day—no class
W September 4 Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, from Chronicle of the Narvàez Expedition (68-75), screening of Cabeza de Vaca (1991)
 
M September 9 Screening of Cabeza de Vaca (1991), continued
W September 11 Quiz on Early Settlers and Explorers
William Bradford, from "Of Plymouth Plantation", excerpts from Book I., Chs. I and IV (127-132), Book II, Chs. XI and XII (144-149)
 
M September 16 Anne Bradstreet, "The Flesh and the Spirit" (227-230), "In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth Bradstreet, Who Deceased August, 1665, Being a Year and Half Old" (234-235);
Mary Rowlandson, from A Narrative of the Captivity and Restauration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, Intro-The Third Remove (262-268)
Peer Editing of Passage Analysis Papers
W September 18 Rowlandson, The Fourth Remove-The Seventh Remove (268-271); The Thirteenth Remove (276-279); The Nineteenth and Twentieth Removes (282-293)
 
M September 23 Edward Taylor, "Meditation 8 (First Series): John 6.51. I Am the Living Bread" (307-308), "Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold" (311-312); Cotton Mather, "from The Wonders of the Invisible World" (326-331)
W September 25 Midterm Examination
 
Part Two: Enlightenment and Revolution, Norton Anthology, Vol. A
 
M September 30 Jonathan Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" (394-406)
Passage Analysis Deadline
W October 2 J. Hector St. John de Crèvecœur, from Letters from an American Farmer (553-575)
 
M October 7 Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought from Africa to America" (715), "To the Right Honourable William, Earl of Dartmouth, His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for North-America, &c" (715-716), "To the University of Cambridge, in New England" (716-717), "To S. M., a Young African Painter, on Seeing His Works" (721-722)
 
Part Three: The American Renaissance and Slavery, Norton Anthology, Vol. B
 
W October 9 Quiz on Edwards, Crévecœur, Wheatley
Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature," Intro-Chapter IV (161-174)
 
M October 14 Emerson, "Nature," Chapters V-VIII (174-190)
W October 16 Henry David Thoreau, Walden: "11. Higher Laws" (1006-1013), and "17. Spring" (1030-1041)
 
M October 21 Harriet Beecher Stowe, from Uncle Tom's Cabin, Excerpts from Vol. I, Chs. I, III, VII (760-782)
W October 23 Stowe, Excerpts from Vol. I, Chs. IX, XII (783-806)
 
M October 28 Stowe, Excerpts from Vol. I, Ch. XIV and Vol. II, Ch. XX (813-831)
W October 30 Stowe, Excerpts from Vol. II., Chs. XXVI, XXX (831-842)
 
M November 4 Quiz on Emerson, Thoreau, and Stowe
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter, Chs. I-V (406-429)
W November 6 Hawthorne, Chs. VI-X (429-457)
 
M November 11 Hawthorne, Chs. XI-XV (457-480)
W November 13 Hawthorne, Chs. XVI-XX (480-503)
 
M November 18 Hawthorne, Chs. XXI-XXIV (503-523)
Peer-Editing of Literary Analysis Papers
W November 20 Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Chs. I-IX (1076-1102)
 
M November 25 Douglass, Chs. X-XI (1102-1129)
W November 27 Herman Melville, "Bartleby, the Scrivener" (1322-1348)
Final Draft of Literary Analysis Due
 
M December 2 Bartleby (Parker Film 2002), in-class screening
W December 4 Melville in print and on screen, semester review
 
F December 13 Final Exam, noon-1:50pm