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REINVENTING LITERARY HISTORY: AMERICAS
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WEEK #1 |
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9/5 |
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Introduction |
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WEEK #2 |
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NEW WORLD MYTHS OF ORIGIN |
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9/10 |
M |
Popul Vuh (excerpts) |
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9/12 |
W |
Popul Vuh (excerpts) |
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WEEK #2 |
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9/17 |
M |
Garcilaso El Inca de la Vega, Royal Chronicles (excerpts) |
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9/19 |
W |
Bartolomé de las Casas, Tears of the Indians (excerpts) |
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9/21 |
F |
Metropolitan Museum: Pre-Columbian Art and the Popol Vuh |
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WEEK #3 |
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EUROPEAN MYTHS OF ORIGIN |
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9/24 |
M |
Explorations Accounts:
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9/26 |
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William Shakespeare, The Tempest |
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WEEK #4 |
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10/1 |
M |
William Shakespeare, The Tempest |
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10/3 |
W |
William Shakespeare,
The Tempest
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WEEK #5 |
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COLONIAL PERIOD in South America |
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10/8 |
M |
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648/51 - 1695) |
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10/10 |
W |
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz (1648/51 - 1695) |
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WEEK #6 |
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COLONIAL PERIOD in North America |
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10/15 |
M |
Selected poetry of Anne Bradstreet (1612 - 1672) |
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10/17 |
W |
Puritan Readings I:
brief excerpts from
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WEEK #7 |
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10/22 |
M |
Catherine Maria Sedgwick, Hope Leslie (1827) |
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10/24 |
W |
Catherine Maria Sedgwick, Hope Leslie |
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RESEARCH ESSAY TOPICS DUE |
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WEEK #8 |
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10/29 |
M |
Catherine Maria Sedgwick,
Hope Leslie
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10/31 |
W |
Puritan Readings II:
brief excerpts from
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WEEK #9 |
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SLAVERY in the Americas |
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11/5 |
M |
Academic Holiday |
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11/7 |
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Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by Himself |
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WEEK #10 |
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PROSPECTUS AND ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY DUE |
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11/12 |
M |
Olaudah Equiano,
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African, Written by
Himself
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11/14 |
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Herman Melville, "Benito Cereno" |
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WEEK #11 |
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ENLIGHTENMENT in American Narratives of Liberty |
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11/19 |
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Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution |
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RESEARCH ESSAY DUE (First Version) |
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11/21 |
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Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution
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WEEK #12 |
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11/26 |
M |
Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence |
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11/28 |
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William Apess, Eulogy on King Philip |
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WEEK #13 |
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12/3 |
M |
SimÛn Bolivar (Letters addressing the transfer of the European Enlightenment: Knowledge, Religion, and Questions of State) |
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12/5 |
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Andrés Bello (1781-1865), "Ode to Tropical Agriculture" (1826)
and "Orthography in America" (1823)
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RESEARCH ESSAY DUE (Second Version) |
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WEEK #14 |
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12/10 |
M |
Conclusion and a Meeting at 139 East 79th Street, if convenient. |
REQUIRED TEXTS
William Shakespeare,
The Tempest
(Signet Classics)
Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz,
Poems, Protest, and a Dream: Selected
Writings
Catherine Maria Sedgwick,
Hope Leslie
(Rutgers University Press)
Henry Louis Gates, ed.
The Classic Slave Narratives
Herman Melville,
Bartleby and Benito Cereno
(Dover Classics)
Rules for Writers
(recommended)
From the Village Copier (115th Street just off Broadway):
Required Reader for the Course, including excerpts from the Popul Vuh ; Garcilaso El Inca de la Vega, Royal Chronicles ; Bartolomé de la Casas, Tears of the Indians ; Christopher Columbus, Journal ; Amerigo Vespucci, Mundus Novus ; selected poetry of Anne Bradstreet; Puritan Readings I and II; selected poetry of Phillis Wheatley; Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution; Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence ; William Apess, Prince Philip's War ; Simon Bolivar, Letters ; and Andrés Bello, "Ode to Tropical Agriculture" (1826).
REINVENTING LITERARY HISTORY: AMERICAS
FIRST-YEAR SEMINAR
SPRING 2001
Linn Cary Mehta
139 East 79th Street
Dept. of English and Comparative Literature
New York, N.Y. 10021
Columbia University
Tel: (212) 737-7487
email: lcm8@columbia.edu
Fax: (212) 472-7220
CubBoard Information: Columbia University makes it possible to establish a Bulletin Board for each course. The CubBoard for this course can be found at: https://www1.columbia.edu/sec/bboard/003/engl1201-001/. Material may be mailed to: Engl1201-001-003@Columbia.edu.
This course surveys literatures of the Americas in the 19th and 20th centuries. Readings will trace the different strategies used by writers in the United States and Latin America to respond to the early national period, modernism and modernization, European culture, and questions of race and gender. Challenging conventional maps of culture, we will pay particular attention to the way these authors make use of different genres and literary traditions as they explore what it means to write in the Americas. Through class discussion, presentations, written responses, and longer essay assignments, students will examine the fundamentals of critical reading and writing.
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WEEK #1 |
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1/17 |
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Jose MartÌ, "Nuestra America" |
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WEEK #2 |
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FICTION IN THE NEW AMERICAN REPUBLICS |
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1/22 |
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Nathaniel Hawthorne, House of the Seven Gables |
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1/24 |
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House of the Seven Gables |
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WEEK #3 |
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1/29 |
M |
House of the Seven Gables |
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1/31 |
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Esteban EcheverrÌa (1809 - 1851), "El Matadero" (1827) |
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WEEK #4 |
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2/5 |
M |
Edgar Allan Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher" |
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2/7 |
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Poe, "Ligeia" |
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WEEK #5 |
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SLAVERY IN THE AMERICAS |
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2/12 |
M |
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass |
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2/14 |
W |
Douglass Abraham Lincoln, "A House Divided" |
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WEEK #6 |
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POETRY OF THE AMERICAS |
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2/19 |
M |
Rubén DarÌo and Jose MartÌ, selected poetry |
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2/21 |
W |
Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" |
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WEEK #7 |
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THE BIRTH OF MODERNISM |
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2/26 |
M |
Whitman and Dickinson |
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2/28 |
W |
Dickinson |
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WEEK #8 |
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3/5 |
M |
W. E. B. Du Bois, The Souls of Black Folk (excerpts) |
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3/7 |
W |
The Souls of Black Folk |
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WEEK #9 |
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SPRING BREAK |
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Email prospective research topics |
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WEEK #10 |
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3/19 |
M |
Machado de Assis, Dom Casmurro |
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3/21 |
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Dom Casmurro [SCHEDULE LIBRARY VISIT] |
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WEEK #11 |
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3/26 |
M |
Dom Casmurro |
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NEGRITUDE |
AND |
MODERNISM |
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3/28 |
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The Harlem Renaissance: Claude McKay, Langston Hughes
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WEEK #12 |
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4/2 |
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The Harlem Renaissance: Helene Johnson, Lillian Byrnes, Zora Neale Hurston |
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4/4 |
W |
T. S. Eliot, "The Waste Land" |
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WEEK #13 |
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4/9 |
M |
T. S. Eliot, "The Waste Land" |
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4/11 |
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Pablo Neruda, "The Heights of Macchu Picchu"
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WEEK #14 |
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4/16 |
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William Faulkner, "The Bear" |
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4/18 |
Th |
"The Bear" |
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WEEK #15: |
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"THE BOOM" |
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4/23 |
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Jorge Luis Borges, selected stories Julio Cort·zar, selected stories |
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4/25 |
Th |
Gabriel GarcÌa M·rquez, selected stories
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REQUIREMENTS
Reading, Writing, and Participation
(1) Reading (20%) I will set up a class bulletin board on the internet, and will ask you either to share a log of points that interested you in the reading, or to participate in on-line discussion of texts.
(2) Writing (60%) Writing four papers Revision of at least two papers
(3) Participation (20%) Attendance in class (only two excuses per semester) Active participation in discussion
REQUIRED TEXTS
From Labyrinth Books (112th Street east of Broadway):
DuBois, W.E.B.
The Souls of Black Folk
(Dover)
Faulkner, William.
Go Down, Moses
(Vintage)
Gates, Henry Louis, ed.
The Classic Slave Narratives
(Signet)
Hawthorne, Nathaniel.
The House of the Seven Gables
Machado de Assis, Joachim.
Dom Casmurro
(Oxford Latin American
Library)
Neruda, Pablo.
The Heights of Macchu Picchu
(Farrar Strauss)
Poe, Edgar Allen.
The Gold Bug and Other Tales
(Dover)
Whitman, Walt.
Song of Myself
(Dover)
The Americas copy packet for this semester contains:
1."Our America," Jose MartÌ
2.EcheverrÌa's "El Matadero" (The Slaughterhouse)
3.Poems by Rubén DarÌo and Jose MartÌ
4.A selection of Emily Dickinson poems (with footnotes)
5.Poems of the Harlem Renaissance
6.Latin American Short Stories by Borges, Cort·zar, and M·rquez