Shakespeare, The Tempest (Signet): Sagely, imperialistic-minded Prospero vs. the sly, lyrical, beastly Caliban: this late play of the Bard presents the key issues that later define the New World experience. 

William Andrews, ed., Journeys in New Worlds (Wisconsin): This volume includes an autobiography of a demur Puritan woman, Mary Rowlandson, who learns to survive in the Indian "wilderness"; and the memoir of a Quaker woman who recalls her rebellious escape from paternal and cultural tyranny to carve out a space of independence in the New World.

Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative and Other Writings (Penguin): From village in Africa, to slave ship, to the Americas and middle-class success: Equiano's life-story captures the early tensions of African-American identity in elegant and stirring prose.

Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography (Dover Thrift): The quintessential American--or is he?  To know Franklin in his brief autobiography is to know key aspects of "American" identity.

Charles Brockden Brown, Wieland and the Memoirs of Carwin the Biloquist (Penguin): One of the first American gothic potboilers, this novel revolts against the sunny pragmatism and rationalism of Franklin. 

Willa Cather, My Antonia (Bantam): This beautifully nostalgic novel chronicles immigrant life on the prairie states.

Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club  (any edition): Perfectly sculpted, interlinked stories of immigrant Chinese mothers and their daughters (and the daughters' spouses).  Tough and sentimental at the same time.

William Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom! (Vintage--not ordered at FIU bookstore): Faulkner's epic of the U.S. South and its "downfall" is lurid, infuriatingly difficult, brilliant, and overwhelmingly stirring.  By many, it is considered the best American novel.

YOU SHOULD BE PREPARED TO DISCUSS THE ENTIRETY OF THE TEXT ASSIGNED FOR EACH WEEK 

Please check the online syllabus once a week or so for notes to the class.

Class Date

THE "DISCOVERY"   

   Sept 6
   No class

Labor Day Holiday

The last work we are reading this semester--Faulkner's Absalom, Absalom!--is very difficult.  It needs to be read twice, really, for it to make sense.  Try to read at least 1/2 of it during this week. You'll be frustrated, but you'll end up being amazed when you return to it at the end of the semester.  I did not order copies, as any local bookstore will have many. Besides the summary link to the right, Faulkner provides some summary info. and a character list at the back of the novel

 

. 

   Sept 13

Columbus, "Letter to Lord Sanchez" (e-text)

Vespucci, "Account of His First Voyage" (e-text)
Montaigne, Of Cannibals (e-text)

Film: The Black Robe or The Mission

Voyages

Columbus

Black Robe film review

IMAGINING THE NEW WORLD

   Sept 20

Shakespeare, The Tempest: Ed.'s intro. lxiii-lxxvii & Acts I-V

plus Leininger "Miranda Trap" critical essay in Signet edition

Please read the entire play and be prepared to discuss it.  Before you come to class, try to quickly review the key scene list (in the green "Go" site to the immediate right)--that will help you get the play fresh in mind for class.  The top two external links to the far right are highly relevant to this play, but also are good reading if you are taking a Shakespeare class this semester or for general literary/intellectual history.

For those who have not participated online yet, reflections on Caliban or Prospero would be a good place to begin!

NATIVE AMERICAN AND PURITAN COMMUNITIES AND BELIEFS

   Sept 27

Cherokee Indian Creation/Trickster/Hunting Tales (e-text)
Sioux Indian "Younger Brother" Tale  (e-text)

[Wrap-up professor remarks on The Tempest: As I've mentioned before, pay attention in all our texts to what a work "officially" wants to say and what it may more subversively or against-the-grain say.  A good example of this is when Caliban seeks grace/forgiveness from Prospero (required for the official, allegorical message), but may alternatively be faking what Prospero wants to hear.  You will see the same pattern of "official" message versus more subtle possibilities when we read Mary Rowlandson for Oct. 11 and when we read My Antonia towards the end of the semester.  The trick is not just to see literary works as being complex, but also as being potentially internally inconsistent (allegory vs. realistic representation) or exhibiting irreconcilable rhetorics.  A little bit of mess, the debris of reality, is a good thing in a great work of art!]

The paper guidelines are now available at the top of this yellow syllabus calendar.

Before we discuss the Indian stories, we will talk about and decide upon the final exam format.

Read all the Indian stories, but be prepared especially to discuss the latter (more puzzling) ones: "Stone man," "Bear Man," and "Younger Brother Tale."

   Oct 4

Winthrop, "Christian Experience," "Journal," & "Model"  (e-text)
Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (e-text)

To confirm what we concluded in class about the final exam:  You will choose, 2 weeks before the end of the semester, to take the final exam in one of the following flavors:

flavor 1)--in class: a selection of about 10 passages or so from our works, in which you write something intellectually/ thematically interesting about each

flavor 2)--take home, in which you discuss the relevance/utility of about 10 of the outside "Go" sites to our works

flavor 3)--take home, a comparative/synthesis essay tracing a theme or issue through several key works

flavor 4)--10 minute conversation with the prof., with the goal being to see the breadth and depth of your understanding of our materials (to discover what you know vs. what you don't know)

I'll give a more elaborate instructions down-the-road

17TH/18TH-CENTURY NARRATIVES OF CAPTIVITY & ASSIMILATION

   Oct 11

Rowlandson, "A Narrative of the Captivity ..." (in Journeys) [I suggest that you read the first pages of the introductory historical material, pages 13-20, before you read Rowlandson's narrative, pages 31-65; and the last pages of the introduction 21-26, after you read her work.]
 

I've said it several times, but it's worth saying again.  What I most want is that you respond intensely--intellectually/morally/spiritually/emotionally/aesthetically--to each of our major works.  You demonstrate your intensity of engagement with the texts via class discussion (which includes active listening) and on line.  Review of the material abstractly, synthesis of various points about the diverse texts, comparative knowledge: all of that is important, but what I most want you to learn is to focus intently and analytically on particular texts, the objects before you.  The intellectual action is in close, devoted reading and the written or verbal notation of your own ideas.  It's sort of like a hobby you have an active interest in: you don't need to review to know what you know about your particular hobby--whether it's sports info, jazz music, or whatever.  You just absorb naturally because you are curious.  So... that's what I'm asking of you.  Foster your curiosity; be an active rather than passive learner.  This will make you feel nervous, because I'm making it so open ended, so non-quantitative.

***********************

For example: read, and reread, and ponder the last several paragraphs of Rowlandson's captivity story, beginning with "I remember the time, when I used to sleep...." (page 64 in Journeys in New Worlds).  If you REALLY understand the complexity of these passages, the different interpretive possibilities, the haunting poignancy of expression, your job as a good student is done.   By posting a response about these last paragraphs, or talking through their complexity in class, you will learn much more than a Cliff Notes/Sparks/abstract review type of knowledge!!!! 

*******************

Finally: except for The Tempest, our texts have been excerpt-y, and thus a bit confusing because not aesthetic or rhetorical complete, entire entities.  Also, they've been e-texts, which gives them an insubstantial feel.  It is natural for you to feel our materials are a hodge-podge and disparate, but bit by bit all will become more solid and connections among texts will begin to become more apparent, and at an appropriate juncture, I will tie together what might seem loosely assembled (for example: has anybody noticed the parallel between providential/ sovereign Puritan God and Prospero who seems to sort of have predetermined the fate of those who have washed ashore?)

   Oct 25

Equiano, The Life of Olaudah Equiano (Ed.'s intro. ix-xii, Chapters I-III, IV 77-m79 [first couple of pages to this chapter if you are using a different edition], V, VII, VIII, X, XI, & XII 220-m223 & m233-36 [first and last couple of pages to this chapter if you are using a different edition) m=middle of page

Please keep in mind the absence policy.

Please keep in mind that you are expected to participate both online and in class.  Because it is a large class, I realize that of course everybody cannot talk every session, and that some of you are more reserved than others.  So active listening counts, too; or participation in small group activities. If you are quiet in class, though, you should make the extra effort to post online.  If you can't post online for some reason, talk to me and we can find an alternative.  If you talk regularly in class, you are less obliged to participate online . . . but you should still contribute now and again, and you should be checking out, regardless, what your fellow students say.

The in class and online discussion is the only way I have of knowing that you are keeping up and are actively engaged with our readings.  In the past, I've had weekly quizzes and weekly responses papers.  I don't want to return to doing that in the next class I teach!

In the next two or three weeks, I will be giving you feedback about how you are doing participation-wise.  But also feel free to email earlier if you are nervous about how you are doing or just want to know now.

******

If you jump below to next week, you will see I've put online several sample papers.

DECLARATIONS OF INDEPENDENCE: SELF AND NATION MAKING

   Nov 1

Franklin, Autobiography of B. Franklin (Parts One & Two)
 

In Class Review of Expectations, Strategies, & Tips for Your Essay
 

Due Nov. 2--Emailed Essay Topic Paragraph

Having trouble getting a topic? Click here.

Sample Papers Not on Our Texts (so ok to read now)

Paper Guidelines--Read if You Have Not Already Read

Paper Revision Instructions--Read if You Have Not Already Read

CUT Edwards, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" and a "Divine and Supernatural Light" (e-text) CUT

Crevecoeur, "What is an American?" (e-text)
Ashbridge, Autobiography (in Journeys) [I suggest you read the introductory material before reading Ashbridge's account, but skim it as it goes into a lot of, for our purposes, scholarly detail. You do not need to read the secondary accounts, from friends and husband, that follow her account.]

   Nov 15

Brown, Wieland

--read first part of editor's intro. vii-x (these pages summarize the entire plot, including events in the chapters that we'll be skipping; read the plot summary carefully; nonetheless, some episodes, because of skipping, won't make entire sense--don't worry about it)
--read chapters 1-4, 6, 17-22, 24-26
--read editor's intro. parts II, III, IV & VII (interpretation & cultural context)
--total reading = about 150 pages

Due Nov. 17--Emailed Essay 1st Version

GOING INTO THE WOODS; GOING WEST

   Nov 22

Irving, "Rip Van Winkle" (e-text)

CUTBlack Elk, Black Elk Speaks (e-text)
Film: to be selected

Final Instructions

Course Summary
 

PLEASE: in the past I have either quizzed regularly or given fact-oriented midterms, to make sure the class was absorbing background historical or contextual or biographical material (here, the "GO" sites in the far right column). I used to, also, be much more mechanical in class ... making lists of main points on the board.  I now put much of what used to be "lecture" materials in abbreviated form in my Prof. "GO" sites, so that class time can be more freeform discussion.  This only makes sense if you truly read the "GO" sites.  So... read them, and read my Course Summary in the link above.  It is important also that you read the intros. to the editions I ordered when I indicate you need to read them, most recently the intro. to Wieland.   

   Nov 29

Cather, My Antonia (Read the Introduction essay before or after the novel)
 

Choose which final option in class. 
Final Instructions

cut from reading list: Tompkins, "The Buffalo Bill Museum" (handout)

CONTEMPORARY IMMIGRANTS AND NATIVES: HYBRID IDENTITIES

Cather, My Antonia (Read the Introduction essay before or after the novel)

Review Course Summary , Wrap-Up, and Class Evaluation
 

In class we agreed that in order to facilitate true revision of your essays:
--don't count pages.  It's important to revise to make the paper a real analytical, thoughtful effort, which usually entails expansion as you see more complexity in the text, but don't artificially pad!
--three citations: one can be from the prefaces (or essays) in our texts' editions; other two can be from JSTOR or PROJECT MUSE.
--we will discuss My Antonia this week, and bag Joy Luck Club.
--but you may substitute Joy Luck Club for Absalom, Absalom for extra-credit option (Listed in Final Instructions).
--if you wish you may not take the final and make participation 50% of your grade and the paper 50% of your grade (this makes sense insofar as if you regularly participated, the final exam's measurement would be redundant).  The paper then is due, via email, the night of the final.
--but to be fair to those with lackluster participation, the original final plan will be still an option.
--the goal is to REALLY work hard on the paper, to make it something you can be proud of, etc.  I quote myself, from the Paper Revision Instructions:

". . . . as students you are rarely given the chance to brood/ ponder/reconsider/enjoy the thrill of discovery about an author or an issue (because papers get written over, typically, three or four days and that's it).  I'm giving you the opportunity to do something new, intellectually mature, and also somewhat daunting.  I don't just want you to "squeeze out" additional pages.  I want you to really read your own writing/ideas (and the text you are writing about) in a non-passive manner--this means scrutinizing what you've said, looking for angles of complexity that need to be considered, for additional specifics that will help round out a train of thought, and so forth."

In case you didn't see it:  Course Summary !!!!!! It is here for a purpose; so that you read it; so that I don't have to lecture at you!!!!!!!

Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club
(Read only the Jing-Mei Woo/Lindo Jong//Waverly Jong stories)

   Dec 13   

Final Exam in class 6:25-9:05, or emailed take-home by class time, or Prof. conversation between 7:00-9:00.  Or email final version of paper if doing the 50%participation/50%paper rather than 25%participation/25%exam/50%paper option .Final Instructions

DID YOU FORGET TO READ THE COURSE SUMMARY? . . . well, here you go.  Last chance.  Will somebody please turn the lights out.  To everyone: best wishes to you all; enjoy your break; read a few books.

 

AN AMERICAN EPIC (OF THE SOUTH)
Faulkner, Absalom, Absalom!
Absalom, Absalom! continued