Fall 2005

E 316K • Masterworks of Literature: American (32530-32575)

Course Description

This course surveys nearly four hundred years of North American literature. Among the many writers we will consider are Anne Bradstreet, Benjamin Franklin, Handsome Lake, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emily Dickinson, Harriet Jacobs, Henry James, Kate Chopin, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Langston Hughes, Sylvia Plath, Helen María Viramontes, and Li-Young Lee. We will concentrate on literary form, as well as on relating the diverse "voices" of American literature to one another and to the social and historical contexts appropriate to each.

Grading Policy

Quizzes and brief, informal writing assignments
Two midterm examinations
One final examination
Punctual attendance to all class meetings

Texts

Norton Anthology of American Literature (Shorter Sixth Edition)
Kate Chopin, The Awakening (Dover Thrift Edition)

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