History of American literature 15-HLUSA-NA-12

(First semester of a two-semester course. Continued as 15-HLUSA-NA-22 in the second semester.)

History of American Literature is a historically-grounde two-semester course designed to survey the main trends and ideas in American literature from the Colonial Period to the beginning of our century. The syllabus is structured chronologically to facilitate a better understanding of both the inner tensions and the continuity of American literary tradition. The reading list covers the most representative literary figures of a given period or movement and is meant to introduce students to the variety of aesthetic practices, genres, themes and works which make up for the formal, thematic and ethnic richness of American literature and culture. The course is also meant to prepare students for further professional and interpersonal development by encouraging their own literary pursuits and interests and making them sensitive to other cultures and traditions. Students will also learn reading, interpretive and critical strategies useful in further research and in teaching. The course is also meant to prepare students for further professional development by encouraging their own literary pursuits and interests and making them sensitive to the cultural value of American literary history. Students will also learn reading, interpretive and critical strategies useful in further research and in teaching. The discussions, class debates and group work will also help them develop various social and interpersonal skills such as respect for cultural difference, including other people's opinions, views and cultural as well as ethnic backgrounds. The students will also develop discussion and presentation skills, independent thinking and formulation of ideas and openness to other cultures and ideas.

Course syllabus covers the following content:

The syllabus of the course covers the following content:

History of American literature: temporal and spatial framework; survey of thematics, fundamentals of American culture
The Colonial Period:1620 –1740: Puritan Literature and culture
The American Enlightenment and the War of Independence (1740-1776): Benjamin Franklin and Jonathan Edwards: autobiography
Early Romantic Literature (1820-1850) the shaping of the American national tradition: the rise of the novel and short story (the historical romance of James Fenimore Cooper and Washington Irving's short story)
The American Renaissance: the American Transcendentalism (1835-1861): Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau (essays)
The American Renaissance:the American Gothic: Edgar Allan Poe
The American Renaissance: Dark Romanticism: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville
The American Renaissance: The Poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson
Slave Narrative, domestic novel and political prose of the pre-Civil War period: Frederick Douglass
The Post-Civil War Period (1865-1900): realism and naturalism in fiction: Mark Twain, Stephen Crane and Henry James
Modernism in American poetry (1900-1939): Robert Frost, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, W.C. Williams, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens, Langston Hughes and Marianne Moore
Modernism in American fiction: William Faulkner, Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway
The Post-war Poetry (1945-1980): Poetry of the Beat Generation, The San Francisco Renaissance, The New York School, and the Confessional Poets:
Postmodernist fiction:
Contemporary novel
Contemporary Poetry

Module learning aims

The objectives of the course include the following: 1: Conveying the essential knowledge about the history of American literature from the Colonial Period (1620) to the present 2: Conveying the essential knowledge about the most important phenomena, representatives, genres, trends, movements and innovations in the American literary tradition. 3: Developing skills needed for a critical analysis of literary and cultural texts 4: Developing skills for the use of relevant methodologies of literary studies in an analysis of literary texts 5: Developing skills needed for reading, understanding and application of literary criticism 6: Developing skills related to independent thinking, presentation and formulation of ideas 7: Developing skills for a critical discussion of literary texts 8: Developing interpersonal skills related to communication, collaboration and group work 9:Developing attitudes of respect towards different worldviews 10: Developing attitudes of tolerance and openness towards different cultures

Information on where to find course materials

Handouts, syllabus, tests and major requirements are provided by the teacher; the assigned reading list is available at the University Library or online, especially in anthologies such as Norton Anthology of American Literature and Bradley Anthology The American Tradition in Literature (Volume 1 and 2), and on the websites of the Gutenberg project or Bartleby.com); some materials will be distributed via Moodle Platform.

Major

English philology, teaching specialization

Methods of teaching for learning outcomes achievement

Text-based discussion, content tests, pair work, group work, multimedial presentations, audiovisual materials (documentary films about poets or authors, photographs and other visual prompts), class debates, e-learning platform discussion forum

Course module conducted remotely (e-learning)

Communication with students, selected tasks in preparation for class discussion and exam, some homework assignements, as well as elements of class discussion can be also conducted with the aid of the e-learning platform.

Student workload (ECTS credits)

The number of hours (according to the program) with the teacher: 60 hours of conversations Self-study: 120 hours Sum: 150 hours ETCS: 6

Cycle of studies

1st cycle

Module type

compulsory

Year of studies (where relevant)

Year 2

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences

English language (advanced level), basic knowledge about British literature and USA history

Course coordinators

Paulina Ambroży

Learning outcomes

After successful completion of the course, student has the following skills, knowledge and competences:

1: Student correctly recalls and identifies the main stages, movements, genres, and phenomena in the development of American literary history and identifies their main representatives
2. The student analyses and interprets literary texts in the historical context
3. Student is able to read with comprehension English texts belonging to various genres and types of literature
4. Student is able to read, comprehend and evaluate academic texts of criticism
5. Student uses critical discourse in analysis of literary text
6. Student proposes his own interpretation of literary texts and takes active part in discussion
7. Student properly uses literary resources in English and Polish
8. Student properly uses basic terminology related to literary studies
9. Student formulates conclusions and organizes discussion results
10. Student is tolerant and open towards other cultures and traditions

Assessment criteria

Evaluation methods:
Formative: text-based discussion monitored by the instructor, content-based tests verifying the knowledge of the texts, observation during class and group discussions,
Summative: two end-of-term tests, exam consisting of two parts - test with closed and semi-open questions, and open questions (essay) (3 essay questions out of 6, to be selected by students)

Sample questions:
Which of the following writers are associated with the American South:
a) Nathaniel Hawthorne
b) Ralph Waldo Emerson
c) Mark Twain
d) Herman Melville
e) William Faulkner

Semi-open questions:
define imagism
Essay question: Discuss Puritan and Transcendentalist approaches to nature and God. Use relevant examples.

Grading criteria:

excellent (bdb, 5.0): excellent knowledge, competences and interpersonal and social skills
very good (db+, 4,5): very good knowledge, competences and interpersonal and social skills
good (db, 4.0): good knowledge, competences and interpersonal and social skills
satisfactory (dst+; 3,5): satisfactory knowledge, competences and interpersonal and social skills
poor (3.0): poor knowledge, competences and interpersonal and social skills
unsatisfactory (fail) (ndst, 2.0): unsatisfactory knowledge, competences and interpersonal and social skills

Bibliography

All primary sources, excepting the novels are in Sculley Bradley’s anthology American Tradition in Literature, 2 vols. (H, An 466 – 493 (vol. 1) and 748 – 757 (vol. 2))

Peter Conn. The Cambridge Illustrated History of American Literature. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1989.
Emory Elliott (ed.) Columbia Literary History of the United States. New York: Columbia University Press,
1988.
Andrzej Kopcewicz, Marta Sienicka. Historia literatury Stanów Zjednoczonych w zarysie. Vols. 1, 2.
Warszawa: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1982.
Agnieszka Salska (ed.) Historia literatury amerykańskiej XX wieku. Vols. 1, 2. Kraków: Universitas, 2003.
Norton Anthology of American Literature. (Volume One and Two)
Bradley Sculley (et. al.) American Tradition in Literature (Volume One and Two)
Richard Ruland and Malcolm Bradbury. From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of American
Literature. Penguin Books. 1992.
Stachura, Paweł. 2010. An Outline History of American Literature. Poznań. Wydawnictwo Poznańskie.
Richard Gray. 2004. A History of American Literature. Malden, USA, Oxford, UK, Carlton, Australia.
Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
Agata Preis-Smith. 2004. Kultura, tekst, ideologia. Dyskursy współczesnej amerykanistyki. Kraków:
Universitas.
F. O. Matthiessen. The American Renaissance. London: Oxford UP, 1941. (IFA Library Reference)
The Columbia Literary History of the United States, New York. 1990.
Emory Elliot at al. (ed.) The Columbia History of the American Novel and Poetry, New York: 1991 and
1993.
Parini, Jay (1948- ). (ed.) Millier, Brett Candlish. Red. The Columbia History of the American Poetry. 1993.
Sacvan Bercovitch (ed.), associate ed. Cyrus R. K. Patell. The Cambridge History of American literature.
Vol. 1, 1590-1820. Cambridge : Cambridge Univ. Press, 1994.
Pearce, Roy, Harvey. The Continuity of American Poetry. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1961.
Bigsby, Christopher William Edgar. Modern American drama, 1945-1990. New York: Cambridge
University Press, 1994.
Bigsby, Christopher William Edgar. Modern American drama : 1945-2000. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2000.

Additional information

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 15-HLUSA-NA-12 in USOSweb