American literature - Year III

A survey course of American Literature from Puritan historiography to the most recent times,
with special emphasis on late 19th and early 20th century letters, supplemented by a lecture.
The course focuses on major American writers and their major works. It comprises 2 hrs of
class discussion (90 minutes) and 1 hr of lecture (45 minutes) per week.

The aim of the course is to develop the students' awareness of the distinctiveness of American
literature as compared to the British one as regards its historical and intellectual background,
main preoccupations and concerns as well as its message

The signature for the first semester will be earned through a test – students will be asked to
write mini-essays on two chosen topics (one monographic and one comparative – they will be
given a choice of four topics). The final examination (June 2010) will comprise the material
from both semesters and will consist of two parts: quiz (lectures) and two essays (the same
format as the semester test).

In classes we will be using The College Anthology of American Literature (edited by Zygmunt
Mazur).

Recommended Readings

o American Literature Survey, vol.I

o The Norton Anthology of American Literature
o The Oxford Companion to American Literature
o Robert E.Spiller (ed.),A Literary History of the United States
o Andrzej Kopcewicz, Marta Sienicka, Historia literatury Stanów Zjednoczonych w
zarysie
o Zbigniew Lewicki (ed.), A Handbook of American Literature
o Emory Elliott (ed.), Columbia Literary History of the United States
o Darrel Abel, American Literature
o Nelson Manfred Blake, A History of American Life and Thought

Fall Semester

Week 1
- Literature of Discovery and Exploration (from Diaz The True History of the Conquest of
New Spain: from “The Destruction of Tenochtitlan,” Cabeza de Vaca The Relation: “The
Malahado Way of Life”, “Customs of that Region”), Native American Literature from
Winnebago Trickster Cycle: 23, 24)

Excerpts taken from Norton (5th edition, vol. I): 35, 43, 46-7, 128-30

Week 2
- John Winthrop: “A Model of Christian Charity”
- William Bradford: from Of Plymouth Plantation,
- Jonathan Edwards: "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
Week 3
- Anne Bradstreet: "To my Dear and Loving Husband," "Upon the Burning of our House."

- Edward Taylor: "Housewifery"

- Samuel Sewall: from The Diary

Week 4
- from Benjamin Franklin: The Autobiography
- Thomas Jefferson: "The Declaration of Independence."

Week 5
- Washington Irving: "Rip Van Winkle," "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow."
- James Fenimor Cooper: from The Last of the Mohicans

Week 6
- Edgar Allan Poe: from "The Philosophy of Composition," "The Raven", "Annabel Lee,"
"Ligeia", "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Cask of Amontillado", "The Black Cat,"
"William Wilson"

Week 7
- Ralph Waldo Emerson: from "Nature," "The American Scholar," "Self-Reliance", "The
Over-Soul"

- Henry David Thoreau: from Walden, “Civil Disobedience”

Week 8, 9
- Walt Whitman: from Song of Myself

Week 10
- Emily Dickinson (selected poetry)

Week 11
- Nathaniel Hawthorne: "Young Goodman Brown," "Rappacinni's Daughter," "Ethan
Brand", "The Minister’s Black Veil"

Week 12
- Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter

Week 13,14
- Herman Melville: Moby Dick