Spring 2017 American Literature to 1860

Preamble

The United States is still the world’s most powerful nation with its rich traditions, its colorful demography, and its large economy. Today, American literature is as diverse and vigorous as the United States is full of surprises and changes. This semester we will focus on some of the earlier writings by people who decided, for reasons noble or otherwise, to call North America home. We will begin with some writings about the New World in early 17th century and probably wrap up the course with a dose of Emerson and Hawthorne when June rolls in.

“Had we but world enough, and time, . . .”

A survey course in literature easily tends to be more ambitious than time will permit. Over the years, my style has been to read more of each text very carefully and to proceed notoriously slowly, noting historical and cultural backgrounds that conspire to give rise to a certain author or text while contemplating its modern implications away from the North American Continent. Speed is not our primary concern. You will not dabble in but delve into literature. Nor will you be passively sitting there on the receiving end. Bring your thinking cap. No writer is hallowed; no text is sacred. There are no stupid questions. I encourage you to read the selections from your own experience, and to come to grips with them across time and distance (culture). Rote learning is not my cup of tea. Rest assured that you’ll not be asked to memorize facts that are only a few clicks away on your keyboard.

You’ll be asked to ponder over some ambiguous questions for which I do not have ready answers. The primary and permanent question remains: how does this course—or text, for that matter—benefit me? Or, put it more bluntly, why American literature for me, now? It would be hard to find a satisfying answer at this point in your career, given the lopsided interest in the social media and the economy and even politics outside, and for some of you the final answer, after some serious soul searching, may be as simple as “It doesn’t.” Nevertheless, I expect you to read and actually enjoy the selections, paying little attention to what the critics (“destructive angels” whom the late Arthur Miller loved to hate) have to say. You yourself shall be the ultimate critic, if not the most accomplished.

Remember, I want a piece of your mind. Issues that might trouble your mind include the following themes: communal obligations vs. individual freedom, law and justice, sympathy vs. suffering and pain, humanity vs. other more tangible values (such as wealth), self and others, choice and obedience, love and commitment, happiness and fulfillment vs. negation and void, ethnic and gender politics, the function of literature, alienation and estrangement, immigration and exile, war and peace, civilization vs. the environment, nativism, identity, diaspora, faith, and whatnot.

The following are twenty exit questions. If you invest enough time in the course, you should be able to answer them before the summer break kicks off in June:

1. What is American literature?
2. What is the ‘other’ early American literature?
3. How early is early American literature written in English?
4. Why did some God fearing Englishmen desperately want to settle in America?
5. Why did some secular Englishmen want to go to America?
6. Where is the “literature” in early American literature?
7. Why did some people insist on a literature embargo?
8. What is a primer used to educate children?
9. What is the big picture like (minus literature) in Colonial America?
10. How did order and freedom fit into the scheme of things in Colonial America?
11. How did democracy begin in America?
12. How do you like or dislike some early American writers/leaders?
13. How to look at the federalists vs the anti-federalists fight from our (i.e., Taiwan) perspective?
14. How did American literature become American?
15. What is the American novel like?
16. What are the new forces in American poetry?
17. Do American writers have obligations to the society? How to have a voice that impacts the future?
18. Do I want to be a writer with integrity and a conscience?
19. Why do I need to study American literature?
20. How do I benefit from this course?

There will be plenty more questions like these throughout the semester, some of which will appear as essay questions in quizzes and exams.