AML 4503--American
Romanticism: In Search of Sublimity
Spring 2009
Monday evenings 7:50-10:30
Prof.
Bruce Harvey
BBC AC1 378
Office Hours: 4:00-7:30 Monday, 12:00-2:00 Tuesday, and by appointment
Office
Phone: 305-919-5254
Home phone: 954-920-8938 (for non-routine situations and inquiries)
Login for
Blackboard discussion forum and online syllabus:
http://online.fiu.edu/login.html
The online syllabus may also be found at the top of my
homepage: www.fiu.edu/~harveyb
In the American Romantic period (1830-1860),
This is a senior-level literature course, with a lot of reading and a lot of
writing, and you should be prepared to commit yourself intensely to both; if
you require being quizzed to keep up with the readings, you should not take
this class!
The
course has three Learning Outcome goals:
--to increase your knowledge about mid-nineteenth-century American authors
--to improve your analytical ability to see how texts work aesthetically and
culturally
--to develop your skill and pleasure in communicating ideas, both in class and
on paper
TEXTS (total cost new = $45.00)
Edgar A. Poe: Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings (Signet,
1998) ISBN: 0451526759
Frederick Douglass: Narrative of the Life of
Frederick Douglass (Penguin, 1982) ISBN: 014039012X
Herman Melville: Bartleby and Benito Cereno (Dover Thrift, 1990) ISBN: 0486264734
Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin
(
Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass (
Herman Melville, Moby-Dick (Viking Penguin, 2003) ISBN: 0142437247
GRADES
--33% Discussion forum
--33% Eight-page essay
--33% Four-page take home, synthesis exam
COURSE POLICIES & ASSIGNMENTS
Participation
and attendance: Every student is a
vital part of the class community, and I will expect you to work to make the
class an intellectually energizing experience. The flow of good
discussions will result in a course more satisfying for everyone.
Participation can take a variety of forms--the raising of questions or issues,
stating opinions about the work or topic being discussed, responding to other
students’ or my comments, involvement in group activities, and so on. Classroom
participation will affect your final grade positively, helping to pull it up a
notch or two, especially in borderline cases.
Always bring the syllabus and current text to class. Regular, and on
time, attendance is required. You get two absences penalty free. I
won't ask, and you don't need to tell me the reason. For subsequent
unexcused absences, your grade will be docked a notch--e.g. B+ to B. If
you miss more than four classes, you cannot pass the course.
Discussion
forum: The forum provides for
student-to-student interaction and assures me that the class is on
"top" of the readings (in lieu of quizzes!). Postings may consist of: responses to my prompts,
interpretations of what you take to be a key passage in a work, queries that
you’d like to hear developed in the classroom discussion, follow-ups from
classroom discussion, and other issues/ideas that spontaneously arise.
You
should try for at least one substantial posting per week, which means a handsomely-sized
paragraph or two, but there is no hard and fast rule.
Very roughly: a total of 2000 words (=8 double-spaced
pages) for the entire semester would indicate active involvement, but
each of you will have a different style--some of you will post long meditative
paragraphs, others will offer more quick-fire insights, and still others will
have sidebar discussions with another student or two.
I don’t use a grading-curve, but take note of the responses from your peers.
Those who respond routinely, with more than several sentences here or several
sentences there, and show true insight into the course materials (and write
solid, error-free prose) should provide you with an "A" zone example
of forum participation. Those who do not respond to the majority of our main
authors, or respond too often in a perfunctory, non-insightful way, will be in
the "B" or lower zone. Sporadic responses will put you in the
"C" or "D" zone; etc.
Your grade for this component of the course will be assessed at the end of the
semester. Should you want to know how you are doing before that, however, feel
free to email me. If you request an assessment, you should provide a
cut-&-pasted document of your significant responses; you are
required to submit such at the end of the semester, regardless.
Decent grammar, proper sentence construction and punctuation, and so on are
expected. Avoid "getting personal"; and please treat others in the
forum as you would wish to be treated!
The forum will have 4 or so groups, divided according to your last name (A-D,
E-K, L-R, S-Z, for example), depending on the number
of students enrolled. Please stick to your group and conscientiously work to
make conversation/discussion engaging and intellectually productive. Note: use
common sense in deciding whether to initiate a new discussion-“tree” or keep
your topics/replies under an already-established discussion-“tree.” It is
important to have a good balance between topics and replies; otherwise the
forum will become too unruly.
Essay: Topics
will be given; I encourage you, however, to develop your own topics. A
handout for topics and essay-writing tips will be provided down-the-road. Little
slack will be given for sloppy prose. Any essay with a number of major
grammatical or sentence-construction glitches will be returned without a grade,
and at my discretion will be deemed late. A late paper will be penalized
a grade for each class period submitted late, and only emergencies will allow
you to submit your essay late without a penalty.
Take-home
Final Synthesis Exam: You will be given
three or four broad and comprehensive questions roughly two weeks before the
due date of the exam (the otherwise date for an in-class exam, if there were
one). You will choose one of the questions,
leading you to discuss an issue/theme/etc. in four or five of our main
authors. Instructions will be provided down-the-road.
Incompletes: These can only be granted if you have a health or family
emergency.
Plagiarism: Don't do it.
Plagiarism is easy to detect, and the consequences for being found guilty of it
can be devastating for your FIU career (besides being ethically nasty).
If you do not know FIU's policies on plagiarism,
learn them.
Conferences, Email, etc.: I am
always happy to meet with you during office hours to talk more about the
readings or other course matters. For brief questions or to set up a
conference outside of my regular office hours, you may call me at my home
number (for emergencies), leave a message on my office phone (305-919-5254), or
email me at harveyb@fiu.edu. I almost always return email messages within
the same day I receive them, so if you don't get a reply within a day, you
should assume I didn't get the original message. P.S. If you are interested in pursuing an
advanced degree, whether in a profession (Law, for example) or an MA or PhD in
an English or Humanities field, feel free to come by to discuss such with me.
SYLLABUS CALENDAR
E-text = primary text that you should print out & bring to
class
Prof's Stuff = lecture
notes, study questions, etc., for you to review before/after the associated
class
Web Links = selected
cultural-historical or author links, to be read before the associated class
Class tips = reminders,
admonitions, notes of encouragement, and etc.
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Class Date/Class Tips |
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Prof's Stuff |
Web Links |
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Jan 5 |
Course Introduction: What
is (American) Romanticism? |
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THE
TRANSCENDENTAL SUBLIME: EMERSON & THOREAU & FULLER |
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Jan 12 |
Emerson: excerpts from
"Nature" (e-text), "The Oversoul"
(e-text), & Journal (e-text) |
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Jan 19 |
No
Class: MLK |
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ANTI-BOURGEOIS
VISIONS: MELVILLE, HAWTHORNE, & IRVING |
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Melville:
"Bartleby, the Scrivener" (in the
thin |
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IMMENSITY WITHIN: |
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Feb 2 |
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POE'S GOTHIC INTERIORITY: METAPHYSICAL CAPTIVITY |
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Feb
9 We
are now roughly 1/3rd of the way through the course. Some have not posted on the discussion
forum (or read other group postings!).
Now is the time to catch up!!! |
Poe:
"Marginalia (The Veil of the Soul)," "To Helen,"
"Annabel Lee," "The Poetic Principle," &
"The Oval Portrait" (e-texts)
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Feb 16 |
Poe: "The Purloined Letter," "Murders
in the Rue Morgue," "The Fall of the House of Usher" &
"Manuscript Found in a Bottle" |
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NARRATIVES OF PROTEST:
SLAVERY AND |
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Feb 23 |
Douglass: Narrative of... (you need only read the main narrative, pgs. 17-121, in edition
ordered for the class) |
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March 2 |
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Melville review (spoiler alert: read after
reading “Benito”) |
Melville
bio. |
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March 9 |
No Class: Paper Writing Week |
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March 16 |
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March 23 |
By March 22 Sunday Midnight you should have received an
email from me providing your paper grade & feedback (or, in some cases,
just a grade, with a promise of feedback forthcoming later this week). |
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THE WHALE |
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March 30 |
Melville: Moby-Dick: xi-xv (introductory material in the edition I
ordered, but if you have a different edition just read the
introductory/prefatory stuff in it) and Chapters 1-22, 26-32, 35-39, 41-42,
44, 46-52, 55, 58-61 (I've cut mainly chapters that detail aspects of
whaling, but which do not develop the plot or characters) |
DISCUSSION FORUM COMPILATION DUE BY MIDNIGHT
THURSDAY APRIL 16: email your substantial postings, singled-spaced, to harveyb@fiu.edu.
I will email back that I got your
compilation. |
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April 6 |
Moby-Dick: Chapters 66, 76-79, 81-83, 86-87,
91-96, 99-100, 104, 106-119, 124-epilogue |
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April 13 |
Finish Moby-Dick
lecture/discussion as needed.
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Class cancelled; see above. |
NO CLASS
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