AMERICAN LITERATURE, 1800-1870
English BC 3180y
Spring 1998
MW 1:10-2:25
Barnard 302

Lisa Gordis                                                                        
Office: Barnard Hall 408D
Office phone: 854-2114
Office hours: Tuesdays 2:30-4 pm and by appointment
Mailbox: Barnard Hall 417
e-mail address: lgordis@barnard.columbia.edu
Home page:  http://cedar.barnard.edu/~lgordis

In 1941, F. O. Matthiessen published American Renaissance, using the term to refer to the years between 1850 and 1855 and to the texts of Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, Melville, and Whitman. In subsequent years, scholars have used the term more broadly to describe a fruitful period in American literary history. Moreover, they've debated what kind of renaissance, if any, occurred, and which writers defined it. In English BC 3180y, we'll be considering both the American Renaissance described by Matthiessen and more recent views of nineteenth-century American literature. We'll begin with Irving and the questions he raises about the possibilities of a specifically American literature. Then, we'll explore some of the answers that various writers suggest, and the new questions raised by their answers. Issues that we'll consider include the problem of history, the representation of Native Americans, the implications of independence, the nature of the self, slavery and abolition, gender and woman's sphere, and the viability, not only of American literature, but of America itself as a nation.

Course Requirements  | Course Texts |  Schedule of Readings | Useful Links  in American Literature and Culture