| Course Title: Early American Narratives and Counternarratives |
| Start Date: 09/04/2019 End Date: 12/17/2019 |
| Term: Fall Semester 2019 |
| Description: This course frames early American literary and cultural history as a series of hegemonic narratives and counternarratives. Starting with the violence of settler colonialism and Indigenous resistance, this course considers how US literary and national traditions have always been contested by oppressed and dispossessed peoples, who have offered alternatives to predominant American mythologies such as individualism and freedom. We will also track how African American antislavery writers established rhetorical and literary forms in opposition to slavery that influenced the protest and reform ethos of the first half of the nineteenth century. By focusing on the development of various literary forms such as the essay, oratory, the slave narrative, and poetry, this course will consider how Black writers, Indigenous figures, women, and social reform movements reconsidered questions surrounding race, gender, and class from sixteenth-century contact and colonization up until the end of the Civil War. |
| Distribution(s): I - Humanities |
| Academic Level Of Course: Undergraduate | Credits:4.00 |
| Faculty | Phone | Email address |
| Christopher Benfey | 413-538-2532 | cbenfey@mtholyoke.edu |
| Meeting Dates | Method | Meeting days | Meeting times | Building name | Room | Frequency |
| 09/04/2019 - 12/17/2019 | Discussion | Tuesday and Thursday | 11:30AM - 12:45PM | SHTK - Shattuck Hall | 203 | Weekly |
| Requisite Courses | ||
| None |
| Comments |
| Additional Comments |
| Meets the department's legacy 1700-1900 requirement. |
| Course Tags |
| Cross-listed Sections |
| None |
| Course Availability | ||||
| Section status: Closed | Capacity: 18 | Enrollment: 18 | Available: 0 | Waitlist: 0 |
BOOK INFORMATION
| Book List | Required | Publisher Full Price |
| Title: Studies in Classic American Literature Author: Lawrence, D.H. Copyright: 1990 Edition: Volume: ISBN: 9780140183771 Publisher: Penguin |
Required | 10.43 |
| Title: Norton Anthology of American Literature, volume 1, Beginnings to 1865 Author: Levine, Robert S. Copyright: 2017 Edition: ninth Volume: 1 ISBN: 9780393264524 Publisher: Norton |
Required | 70.00 |
| Additional Book Comments |
| This is the complete book list for this class. |
| Copies are on order at Odyssey |
| Instructor's comments about the book list: IMPORTANT: an earlier version of this list contained a mistake. We will be using VOLUME 1 (Beginnings to 1865) of the Norton Anthology, Shorter Ninth Edition, NOT volume 2. Sorry for any confusion! Two details are important. This is the SHORTER NINTH EDITION. And it is Volume 1. |