"ENG 371A American Literature: Revolution and Renaissance Brown Fall 20" by Harry Brown
 

Document Type

Syllabus

Publication Date

Fall 9-1-2024

Course Description

The decades between the American Revolution and the Civil War remain the most energetic and inventive period in American literature, a time when American writers kept pace with the tumultuous growth of the early republic through their efforts to create a national literature fitting its democratic ideals, the diversity of its people, and the awesome proportions of its landscape: in Whitman's words, a literature of “all who aspire.” The literary critic F.O. Matthiessen described this era as an “American Renaissance” marked by a rejection of the old world and old ideas in favor of a fervent embrace of the future. As Emerson declared: “Each age, it is found, must write its own books. Genius looks forward.” This current of progressive thinking made way for hymns to the fertile farms and deep forests of the new country, narratives of personal renewal and liberation, and radical experiments with new literary forms. It also inspired reformist writers to challenge the ideologies of Indian removal, the subjugation of women, and slavery: to demand that the Founders’ promise of liberty be fulfilled for all people, and expanded in ways the Founders themselves never considered. In this way, these writers played a crucial role in fomenting and justifying the Civil War as a struggle to free oppressed humanity, a second American Revolution. We will survey the works of this extraordinary period in relation to the social and political struggles of the age, to each other, and to our present world and ways of thinking, tracing the emergence and evolution of ideas we now recognize as fundamentally and uniquely American.

Student Outcomes

The purpose of the course is to understand the formation of American literature in the early republic, or the period between the American Revolution and the Civil War. The course will to help you (1) to become familiar with significant works of the period; (2) to recognize the genres, forms, conventions, and techniques that distinguish them; (3) to understand their historical and cultural contexts; (4) to identify tify the social, political, and economic factors that influence their production and reception; and (5) to apply current critical approaches and literary theories to your analysis and develop independent interpretations.

Download

Share

COinS