Survey of American Literature: Beginnings to Modernism
During the term I will lecture on the following seven general topics. At the written examination at the end of the term, you will be asked to write essays on two of the topics, giving as much specific information as you can about the topics’ authors and works and making use of the passages for discussion and analysis that I will distribute during the lectures. The written examination will be worth 30 points. The reading notes on 5 of the 6 assigned authors (your choice which one to leave out) are worth 20 points, and the lecture notes are worth 10 points, for a total of 60 points possible for the term. The lecture notes and reading notes will serve as evidence of your attendance and active participation in the course, and they will also help you prepare for the written examination. I will collect the lecture notes at the end of each lecture and return them at the following lecture. Lecture notes are accepted only after each lecture. The reading notes are due at the final lecture, and should specifically discuss works by your authors to show that you have read them with understanding (DO NOT copy or download general information about the authors). Marks for the term will be assigned on the following scale: 53-60 points: 6/отличен 46-52 points: 5/много добър 36-45 points: 4/добър 27-36 points: 3/среден Less than 27 points: 2/слабLecture Topics
1. Summarize the American Puritans’ religious beliefs, giving examples from the work of William Bradford, Cotton Mather, Jonathon Edwards, Anne Bradstreet, and Edward Taylor; compare and contrast the Puritans’ writing with the work of their non-Puritan contemporaries John Smith, Thomas Morton, and Roger Williams. 2. Discuss the American romantic fiction of Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville. 3. Discuss the lives and work of the following American transcendentalists: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, and Walt Whitman. 4. Discuss nineteenth-century American poetry, giving examples from the work of the following poets: Phillip Freneau, William Cullen Bryant, Edgar Allen Poe, Sidney Lanier, John Greenleaf Whittier, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, and Emily Dickinson. 5. Discuss the rise of American realism, defining and giving examples from local-color realism, as practiced by writers such as Mark Twain, Harriet Becher Stowe, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Kate Chopin, and the genteel, psychological, transatlantic realism of Henry James and Edith Wharton. Also, compare and contrast these varieties of realism. 6. Define, compare, and contrast realism and naturalism, giving examples from the following authors: Stephen Crane, Frank Norris, Jack London, Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, and John Steinbeck. 7. Describe the experiments, concerns, and achievements of American modernism, giving examples from the work of the following writers and poets: Gertrude Stein, Sherwood Anderson, John Dos Passos, Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner, Nathanael West, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, T. S. Eliot, William Carlos Williams, H. D. (Hilda Doolittle), Marianne Moore, Robert Frost, and Robinson Jeffers.REPRESENTATIVE AUTHORS: BEGINNINGS TO MODERNISM
The Colonial Period
1) Selected Legends, Tales, and Poetry of the Indigenous Americans 2) Christopher Columbus (1451–1506): “Letter to Luis Santangel Regarding the First Voyage”; “Letter to Ferdinand and Isabella Regarding the Fourth Voyage” 3) Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (1490–1558): “The Relation of Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca” 4) Thomas Morton (1579–1647): “New English Canaan” 5) John Smith (1580–1631): “The General History of Virginia”; “A Description of New England” 6) William Bradford (1590–1657): “Of Plymouth Plantation” 7) Roger Williams (c. 1603–1683): “A Key Into the Language of America”; “The Bloody Tenet of Persecution” 8) Anne Bradstreet (1612–1672): “Prologue”; “The Tenth Muse”; “Contemplations”; “Upon the Burning of Our House”; “As Weary Pilgrim”; “Meditations” 9) John Winthrop (1631–1705): “The Journal of John Winthrop” 10) Michael Wigglesworth (1631–1705): “The Day of Doom” 11) Mary Rowlandson (c. 1636–1711): “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” 12) Edward Taylor (1642–1729): “Huswifery”; “God’s Determinations”; “Meditations” 13) Cotton Mather (1663–1728): “The Wonders of the Invisible World”; “Bonifacius” 14) Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758): “Personal Narrative”; “A Divine and Supernatural Light”; “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”; “Images or Shadows of Divine Things”The Age of Reason and Revolution
15) Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790): The Autobiography; satirical, scientific, political essays 16) Michel-Guillaume de Crévecoeur (1735–1813): “Letters from an American Farmer” 17) Thomas Paine (1737–1797): “The Age of Reason”; “Common Sense” 18) Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826): “The Declaration of Independence”; “Notes on Virginia”The Rise of Romanticism
19) Philip Freneau (1752–1832): revolutionary and lyric poetry 20) Washington Irving (1783–1859): “A History of New York by Dietrich Knickerbocker”; “Rip Van Winkle”; “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”; “The Alhambra“ 21) James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851): Leatherstocking Tales: “Preface”; “The Pioneers”; “The Prairie”; “The Last of the Mohicans”; “The Pathfinder”; “The Deerslayer”; “The Pilot”; “The Spy” 22) William Cullen Bryant (1794–1878): lyric poetry 23) Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849): lyric poetry; “Ligeia”; “The Fall of the House of Usher”; “The Purloined Letter”; “The Mask of the Red Death”; “The Pit and the Pendulum”; “The Philosophy of Composition”; “The Poetic Principle”High Romanticism and Transcendentalism
24) Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1982): “Nature”; “Self-Reliance”; “The American Scholar”; “The Divinity School Address”; “The Over-Soul”; lyric poetry 25) Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864): “The Maypole of Merry Mount”; “Young Goodman Brown”; “The Minister’s Black Veil”; “Rappacini’s Daughter”; “The Birthmark”; “The Artist of the Beautiful”; “The Blithedale Romance”; “The Scarlet Letter”; “The Marble Faun” 26) Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882): lyric poetry; “Hiawatha” 27) Oliver Wendell Holmes (1809–1894): lyric poetry; essays 28) Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862): “Walden”; “A Week on the Concord and Merrimac”; “On Civil Disobedience” 29) Herman Melville (1819–1891): “Bartleby the Scrivener”; “Benito Cereno”; “Moby Dick”; “Billy Budd”; essays (“Hawthorne and His Mosses”) 30) James Russell Lowell (1819–1891): lyric poetry, “A Fable for Critics”; satirical essays 31) Walt Whitman (1819–1892): “Leaves of Grass”;” Song of Myself”; “For You O Democracy”; “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry”; “There Was a Child Went Forth”; “I Sing the Body Electric”; “I Saw in Louisiana a Live-Oak Growing”; “Goodbye My Fancy” 32) Emily Dickinson (1830–1886): lyric poetry, lettersRealism and Naturalism
33) Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896): “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” 34) Mark Twain (1835–1910): “Fenimore Cooper’s Literary Offenses”; “The Whittier Dinner Speech”; “Roughing It”; “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”; “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court”; “The Mysterious Stranger” 35) William Dean Howells (1837–1920): “Editha”; “Novel Writing and Novel Reading“; “Hazard of New Fortunes”; “A Modern Instance” 36) Henry James (1843–1916): “The Real Thing”; “The Beast in the Jungle”; “The Art of Fiction”; “The Turn of the Screw”; “Daisy Miller”; “The Portrait of a Lady”; “The Ambassadors”; “Washington Square”; “The Wings of the Dove”; ” The Golden Bowl” 37) Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909): “The Country of the Pointed Firs” 38) Kate Chopin (1850–1904): short stories (“The Storm”); “The Awakening” 39) Edith Wharton (1862–1937): “The Other Two”; “Roman Fever”; “The Age of Innocence”; “The House of Mirth” 40) Frank Norris (1870–1902): “McTeague”, “The Octopus”, “The Pit”; “A Plea for Romantic Fiction” 41) Stephen Crane (1871–1900): “Maggie – A Girl of the Streets”; “The Red Badge of Courage”; “The Open Boat” 42) Theodore Dreiser (1871–1945): “Sister Carrie”; “An American Tragedy”; “The Financier” 43) Jack London (1876–1916): “The Law of Life”; “To Build a Fire”; “The Call of the Wild”; “White Fang”; “Martin Eden” 44) Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951): “Main Street”; “Babbitt”; “Arrowsmith”; “Elmer Gantry” 45) John Steinbeck (1902–1968): “The Long Valley”; “The Red Pony”; “Tortilla Flat”; “Cannery Row”; “Sweet Thursday”; “Of Mice and Men”; “The Grapes of Wrath”; “East of Eden”; “The Moon is Down”; “Travels With Charlie”Modernist Poetry
46) Robert Frost (1874–1963): “A Boy’s Will”; “North of Boston” 47) Wallace Stevens (1879–1955): “Harmonium”; “Idea of Order”; “The Man With the Blue Guitar”; “Opus Posthumous” 48) William Carlos Williams (1883–1963): lyric poetry, “Paterson” 49) Ezra Pound (1885–1972): “Hugh Selwyn Mauberly”; “Cathay”; “The Cantos” 50) Marianne Moore (1887–1972): “The Pangolin”; “What Are Years” 51) Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962): lyric poems (”Shine”, “Perishing Republic”; “Women of Big Sur”) 52) T. S. Eliot (1888–1965): “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock”; “The Waste Land”; “The Hollow Men”; “The Four Quartets”; “Murder in the Cathedral”; “The Cocktail Party”; literary criticism (“The Metaphysical Poets”; “Tradition and the Individual Talent”)Modernist Prose
53) Gertrude Stein (1874–1946): “Three Lives”; “The Making of Americans”; “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” 54) Sherwood Anderson (1876–1941): “Winesburg, Ohio”; “Death in the Woods”; “The Egg” 55) F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896–1940): “The Rich Boy”; “Winter Dreams”; “The Great Gatsby”; “Tender is the Night”; “The Last Tycoon” 56) John Dos Passos (1896–1970): U.S.A. Trilogy (”Manhattan Transfer”, “The 42nd Parallel”, “The Big Money”) 57) William Faulkner (1897–1962): stories (“A Rose for Emily”, “The Bear”, “The Old Man”) “The Sound and the Fury”; “Absalom, Absalom”;“ Light in August” 58) Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961): stories (“Indian Camp,” “Big Two-Hearted River”, “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, “In Another Country”); “A Farewell to Arms“; “For Whom the Bell Tolls”; “The Sun Also Rises”; “The Old Man and the Sea” 59) Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938): “Look Homeward, Angel”; “You Can’t Go Home Again” 60) Nathanael West (1903–1940): “The Day of the Locust”; “Miss Lonelyhearts”AUTHOR ASSIGNMENTS
STUDENT # STUDENT NAME AUTHORS (see numbered author list)
0803041036 НИКОЛА АРГИЛАШКИ 5,14,27,36,48,57 0803041044 KOСТАДИН СТОЕВ 5,11,29,36,42,51 0803041085 ДИМА ТАНЕВА 9,12,27,35,43,50 0803041108 АЛЬОНА КАРАСТОЯНОВА 1,11,29,33,40,60 0803041113 АЛЕКСАНДЪР ВАНКОВ 6,15,26,33,47,55 0903041001 НАТАЛИЯ РАДЕВА 2,12,28,34,45,59 0903041002 МИЛИЦА КАЛИНОВА 3,16,23,32,41,58 0903041003 НОНА ИВАНОВА КЕНОВА 3,13,22,37,42,58 0903041004 ДОБРОМИР ПЕТРОВ 4,14,27,36,43,57 0903041005 МАРИЯ НИКОЛОВА 5,15,22,35,44,56 0903041006 БОРИСЛАВА ГЕНДУРОВА 6,16,23,34,45,55 0903041007 ДЕСИСЛАВА ВАСИЛЕВА 9,18,27,36,48,54 0903041008 СИМОНА ТОЛЧЕВА 7,17,24,33,46,54 0903041009 ДАНИЕЛА КАЛВИНА 8,18,25,32,47,53 0903041010 АЛЕКСАНДЪР ХРИСТОВ 9,19,26,31,48,52 0903041012 МАРИЯ КОСТАДИНОВА 2,10,21,30,49,51 0903041013 МАРИЯ АНАСТАСОВА 3,17,20,39,44,50 0903041014 КРИСТИНА ХАДЖИНИКОЛОВА 4,16,29,38,41,55 0903041015 ДЕСИСЛАВА СВИЛЕНОВА 5,15,28,37,42,54 0903041016 АННА ЦВЕТАНОВА 6,16,23,35,47,50 0903041017 АНЕЛИЯ АНГЕЛЧЕВА 5,15,26,35,44,60 0903041021 МАРИНА ВЛАХКОВА 4,16,25,33,41,59 0903041023 ИВАН ГАЛЧИН 3,17,26,32,40,58 0903041024 БОРИСЛАВ ШЕХОВ 2,18,27,31,43,57 0903041025 ВИКТОРИЯ СПАСОВА 1,19,28,30,44,56 0903041026 ДОНА ПЕТКОВА 5,15,29,39,43,55 0903041027 ЛЪЧЕЗАР УЗУНОВ 9,18,20,38,30,54 0903041028 СТАМЕНА МАРАШЕВА 8,17,22,37,45,53 0903041029 АНТОН ИЛИЕВ 7,16,28,36,42,52 0903041030 НЕСИБИЕ МУСТАФА 6,15,24,37,47,51 0903041031 МАРИЕЛА КАМЕНОВА 5,14,25,36,48,50 0903041032 ИВАН МАРИНОВ 4,13,26,35,49,60 0903041033 МАРИЯ ДАСКАЛОВА 3,12,27,34,40,59 0903041035 ЖЕКО ДИМОВ 2,11,28,33,41,58 0903041036 ХРИСТИНА ИРИКОВА 1,10,29,32,42,57 0903041037 ДАРИН УТЕВ 5,19,25,31,43,56 0903041039 КАЛИН ДИМИТРОВ 9,18,22,31,40,54 0903041042 АТАНАС ЖЕЛЯЗКОВ 8,17,29,32,45,53 0903041044 ИВАН НИКОЛОВ 7,16,28,33,46,52 0903041045 РАДОСЛАВ ПЕТКОВ 6,15,27,34,47,51 0903041050 ПЛАМЕН ГЕНОВ 5,10,26,35,48,60 0903041051 ИЛИЯ ДАМЯНОВ 4,11,25,36,49,50 0903041052 КОСТАДИН БОЙЧЕВ 3,12,24,37,42,59 0903041053 ДИМИТРИНА ИВАНОВА 2,18,23,37,43,51 0903041054 БОРИСЛАВА МИЧЕВА 1,19,22,38,44,58 0903041055 БОЯН МЕЛЕВ 5,10,21,39,45,52 0903041056 МИРОСЛАВ ЙОВЧЕВ 9,11,20,30,47,57 0903041057 ГЕОРГИ КУЗМАНОВ 8,12,29,31,48,53 0903041058 АДЕМ ШЕРИФОВ 7,13,28,32,49,56 0903041059 ПЕТЯ ГЕОРГИЕВА 6,14,27,33,40,54 0903041060 СЛАВИ МАРИНОВ 5,15,26,34,41,55 0903041061 СТОЯН ЛАЧКОВ 4,16,25,35,42,51 0903041062 ВЕЛИНА НИКОЛОВА 3,17,24,31,43,56 0903041063 МИХАЕЛА ГЕОРГИЕВА 2,18,23,30,44,52 0903041064 ИВО НОНОВ 1,19,22,39,45,57 0903041065 АЛЕКСАНДРА МАЛИНОВА 5,12,22,38,46,53 0903041066 МИЛЕНА ТРЕНДАФИЛОВА 9,13,23,37,47,58 0903041068 МАГДАЛЕНА КОСТАДИНОВА 8,14,24,36,48,54 0903041070 ВИКТОРИЯ ДАНЧЕВА 7,15,25,35,49,59 0903041071 ПЕТЪР ЛАМБРЕВ 6,16,26,34,40,55 0903041072 АНЕЛИЯ ДАЙОВА 5,17,27,33,48,60 0903041073 ВИКТОРИЯ БОГДАНОВА 4,18,28,32,41,50 0903041075 ТЕОДОР ДИМИТРОВ 3,19,29,31,49,51 0903041076 ЗЕХРА ЮМЕР 2,10,28,30,42,50 0903041077 ПЛАМЕН НЕДЕВ 1,11,27,39,47,60 0903041080 ВЕРОНИКА МАКАКОВА 5,12,26,38,43,59 0903041083 АТАНАС КАЛИНОВ 9,13,25,37,44,58 0903041084 ИВАН ВЕЛКОВ 8,14,24,36,45,57 0903041085 АННА ГЕРОВА 7,15,23,35,46,56 0903041086 ПАУЛА ХРИСТОВА 6,16,22,34,40,55 0903041087 СТАНИМИРА СТАНЕВА 5,14,21,33,41,54 0903041088 ПЛАМЕН РАДИЧЕВ 4,15,20,32,43,53 0903041089 МИРОСЛАВ МАТЕЙСКИ 3,16,21,31,42,51 0903041091 ДИМИТЪР БЛАГОЕВ 2,17,20,32,41,52 0903041093 ПРЕСЛАВ КЕНАНОВ 1,18,29,33,40,50 0903041094 ИВАЙЛО СТОЯНОВ 5,19,28,34,50,60 0903041097 ДАРИНА ДОЙЧЕВА 9,10,29,30,49,59 0903041100 ПЕНКА ПУЛЕВА 8,11,28,31,48,57 0903041102 ДИМИТЪР ПЕТКОВ 7,12,27,32,47,56 0903041103 ИВА ТОДОРОВА 6,13,24,38,46,55 0903041105 АТАНАС РАДИН 5,14,25,33,45,54 0903041110 УМУТ-ЕМРЕ ДЕРЕЛИ 4,15,26,32,40,53 0903041111 ТАНЯ КУТРЯНСКА 3,17,28,31,41,53 0903041112 АНАСТАСИОС АСЛАНИДИС 2,18,27,30,42,52 0903041113 ТОДОРИС ЯНАКОПУЛОС 1,19,28,37,43,51 0903041115 ГАЛИНА НАКОНЕЧНА 5,18,20,39,46,50 0903041116 АНЕТА ВЕЛИУ 5,19,25,33,41,57 0903041117 ХАТИДЖЕ ШЕНТЮРК 9,11,20,35,45,60 0903041118 МЮГЕ ДОГАНАЙ 8,12,21,34,46,59 0903041119 МАРИЯ ЗАФИРИДУ 7,13,22,33,45,58 0903041120 ЛИЛИЯ ПИТЕЛ 6,14,23,32,46,57 1003041005 ПЕТЯ БАЛДЖИЙСКА 5,15,24,31,47,56 1003041007 СИЛВАНА БАЙРЕВА 4,16,25,30,48,55 1003041014 ЯНИЦА ХАНДЖИЕВА 3,10,27,36,49,54 1003041049 МАГДАЛЕНА ЯНЕВА 2,18,27,38,40,53 1003041094 ВАСИЛЕНА ТРЕНДАФИЛОВА 1,19,28,37,41,52 1003041095 БОЯН СТОИЧЕВ 8,13,20,34,44,60 1003041102 МАГДАЛЕНА ЙЕШОНОВСКА 6,15,24,32,42,58 1003041103 НАТАЛИЯ ТОМЧАК 5,10,20,31,45,53 1003041107 ГЕОРГИ БЛАГОЕВ 7,14,23,31,43,59 1003041121 ВИОЛЕТА ЖЕКОВА 6,16, 26, 33, 44, 55
