ENGL 29 American Fiction to 1900

A survey of the first century of U.S. fiction, this course focuses on historical contexts as well as social and material conditions of the production of narrative as cultural myth. The course is designed to provide an overview of the literary history of the United States novel from the National Period to the threshold of the Modern (1845-1900). To do justice to the range of works under discussion, the lectures will call attention to the heterogeneous cultural contexts out of which these works have emerged as well as the formal and structural components of the different works under discussion. In keeping with this intention, the lectures include the so-called classic texts in American literature, The Last of the Mohicans, Moby Dick, The Scarlet Letter, and The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, but also the newly canonized Uncle Tom's Cabin, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Life in the Iron Mills, and Hope Leslie.  The configuration of these works will result in an understanding of the remarkable complexity of United States literary culture.

Degree Requirement Attributes

Dist:LIT; WCult:W

The Timetable of Class Meetings contains the most up-to-date information about a course. It includes not only the meeting time and instructor, but also its official distributive and/or world culture designation. This information supersedes any information you may see elsewhere, to include what may appear in this ORC/Catalog or on a department/program website. Note that course attributes may change term to term therefore those in effect are those (only) during the term in which you enroll in the course.

Department-Specific Course Categories

Course Group II