At the end of this course, the students; 1) will be able to investigate how Romantic themes and ideas are expressed in American literature of the time, 2) will be able to analyze the contribution of Romantic ideas and ideals to the formation of American identity, as explored by major writers of the period.
MODE OF DELIVERY
E-Learning
PRE-REQUISITES OF THE COURSE
No
RECOMMENDED OPTIONAL PROGRAMME COMPONENT
None
COURSE DEFINITION
In this course "masterworks" of American Romanticists will be read and discussed in terms of certain Romantic themes and ideas such as subjectivity, imagination, escapism, innovation, and interest in Nature and primitivism within a specifically American context. The emphasis will be largely on fiction.
COURSE CONTENTS
WEEK
TOPICS
1st Week
General introduction: A historical and socio-cultural overview; America in the post-Revolution period to the Civil War; the age of ?great transformation;? the new social, political and cultural American identity; from literary imitations in the past to a growing awareness and search for indigenous literary production; Americanism and Americanness in literature, the creation of a distinctly national literature.
2nd Week
The making of the American Renaissance: the intellectual, cultural and literary paradigms. The context and characteristics of American Romanticism.
3rd Week
Ralph Waldo Emerson: a close study of his ideas that constituted the basis of the American Renaissance; an in-class discussion and analysis of his pamphlet The American Scholar;
4th Week
Emerson?s philosophy of transcendentalism as reflected in his article Nature;
5th Week
Henry David Thoreau?s romanticism and transcendentalism as reflected in his autobiographical narrative Walden;
6th Week
Midterm Examination
7th Week
Thoreau continued.
8th Week
Washington Irvıng: Rip Van Winkle as a social and political allegory.
9th Week
Romanticism and Gothicism; the major characteristics of gothic writing. Nathaniel Hawthorne?s gothic fiction; A detailed study of his allegorical short story ?My Kinsman, Major Molineux? in terms of gothic narrative, thematic and historical allegory.
10th Week
Romantic adventures and the myth of the American Frontier: James Fenimore Cooper?s The Pioneers;
11th Week
Romantic adventures: Herman MELVILLE?s Moby-Dick;
12th Week
General review and conclusions
RECOMENDED OR REQUIRED READING
Norton, Mary Beth et al. A People and A Nation: A History of the United States. 2 vols. 4th edn. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. Print. (Read Chapters 12 and 13 in particular).
Gilmore, Michael T. American Romanticism and the Marketplace. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1985. Print.
Cranston, Maurice. The Romantic Movement. Oxford: Blackwell, 1994. Print. Rusk, Ralph L. The Life of Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York: C. Scribner?s Sons, 1949. Print.
Buell, Lawrence. Ralph Waldo Emerson: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1993. Print.
Howe, Irving. The American Newness: Culture and Politics in the Age of Emerson. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986. Print.
Matthiessen, F.O. American Renaissance: Art and Expression in the Age of Emerson and Whitman. London: Oxford University Press, 1962. Print.
Condry, William. Thoreau. New York: Philosophical Library, 1954. Print.
Harding, Walter Roy. A Thoreau Handbook. New York: New York University Press, 1959. Print.
Richardson, Robert D. Henry Thoreau: A Life of the Mind. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1986. Print.
Ruland, Richard: Twentieth-Century Interpretations of Walden: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1968. Print.
Crowley, J. Donald. Nathaniel Hawthorne. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1971. Print.
Reynolds, Larry J. A Historical Guide to Nathaniel Hawthorne. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001. Print.
Turner, Arlin. Nathaniel Hawthorne: An Introduction and Interpretation. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1961. Print.
Levin, Harry. The Power of Blackness: Nathaniel Hawthorne, Edgar Allan Poe, Herman Melville. Athens: Ohio University Press, 1958. Print.
Dunne, Michael. Hawthorne?s Narrative Strategies. Jackson: University of Mississipi, 1995. Print.
Sanderlin, George. Washington Irving : As Others Saw Him. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1975. Print.
Walker, Warren S. James Fenimore Cooper: An Introduction and Interpretation. New York: Barnes and Noble, 1962. Print.
Bewley, Marius. Masks and Mirrors: Essays in Criticism. New York: Atheneum, 1970. Print.
Tyrus, Hillway. Herman Melville. New York: Twayne, 1963. Print.
Parker, Hershel. Herman Melville: A Biography. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996. Print.
Jehlen, Myra. Herman Melville: A Collection of Critical Essays. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994. Print.
Davis, Clark. After the Whale: Melville in the Wake of Moby-Dick. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1995. Print.
Lebowitz, Alan. Progress into Silence: A Study of Melville?s Heroes. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1970. Print.
Gura, Philip F. The Crossroads of American History and Literature. Pennsylvania: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1996. Print.
DeMott, Robert J. The Artful Thunder: Versions of the Romantic Tradition in American Literature, in Honor of Howard P. Vincent. Kent: Kent State University Press, 1975. Print.
PLANNED LEARNING ACTIVITIES AND TEACHING METHODS
Lecture,Discussion,Presentation,Other
ASSESSMENT METHODS AND CRITERIA
Quantity
Percentage(%)
Mid-term
1
40
Attendance
1
10
Total(%)
50
Contribution of In-term Studies to Overall Grade(%)
50
Contribution of Final Examination to Overall Grade(%)
50
Total(%)
100
ECTS WORKLOAD
Activities
Number
Hours
Workload
Midterm exam
Preparation for Quiz
Individual or group work
Preparation for Final exam
Course hours
Preparation for Midterm exam
Laboratory (including preparation)
Final exam
Homework
Total Workload
Total Workload / 30
ECTS Credits of the Course
6
LANGUAGE OF INSTRUCTION
English
WORK PLACEMENT(S)
No
KEY LEARNING OUTCOMES (KLO) / MATRIX OF LEARNING OUTCOMES (LO)