Title: SEMINAR: 19TH CENTURY AMERICAN LITERATURE (3)

PRQ:

Course Description: Although celebrated as the nation’s iconic era of cultural formation, the “American Renaissance” was also a period of unrivalled influence from abroad, with Middle Eastern languages and literatures impacting the very genesis of the U.S. canon. ENGL 777 will explore the Hebrew, Arabic and Persian sources for 1800-1865 American Literature, examining the pivotal role played by Middle Eastern texts and traditions in the writings of seminal U.S. authors, including Washington Irving, R.W. Emerson, H.D. Thoreau, Edgar Allan Poe, ‘Umar ibn Sayyid, Emily Dickinson, Lydia Maria Child, Walt Whitman and Herman Melville.

Requirements: Term paper (15-20 pages): 50%; Final Examination: 35%; Participation; Weekly Position Papers; Colloquium Presentation: 15%

Texts: TBA