Title: AMERICAN LITERATURE TO 1830

PRQ:

The purpose of this course is to introduce you to a number of significant literary forms, authors, and ideas in early American literature from the days of first contact through 1830.  Our larger goal is to investigate how colonial, revolutionary, and early national literatures shape the way that we conceive of American identity today.  We will read recorded and translated Native American oral stories, reports from early explorers and settlers, captivity narratives, sermons, diaries, autobiographies, letters, petitions, speeches, travel journals, as well as more traditional literary forms such as poetry and fiction. We will read familiar authors such as John Smith’s version of his rescue by Pocahontas, Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography, and Washington Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle” as well as less-familiar material such as the first best-selling novel in America and, closer to home, Black Hawk’s account of the Sauk war to keep Illinois lands. 

Students will be required to participate in regular discussions, complete occassional quizzes, write two five-page essays, complete a midterm exam and final exam, as well as write ten blog posts for our course blog on blackboard.  Attendance and regular participation are mandatory. 

Texts will include the Norton Anthology of American Literature, Vol A, Life of Blackhawk, and a free e-book version of Last of the Mohicans.