Naziv kolegija: Rat, rekonstrukcija, transformacija: američka književnost 1860-1914 (A, 19/20)
Instructor: Dr Jelena Šesnić
Times: Mon, 8:45-9:30 (A-123), Wed, 9:30-11:00 (D 5)
Office: B-018
E-mail: jsesnic@m.ffzg.hr
Phone: 01/4092-060
Office hours: Mon, 12:00-13:00 p.m.; Thur, 10:00-11:00 a.m.
Semester: Spring 2025
Status: elective
Form of instruction: lecture (1 hour) + seminar (2 hours)
Enrollment requirements: Introduction into the Study of English Literature
Syllabus
Course description: We shall be covering a period of American literature variously designated as the Age of Realism and Naturalism or the Gilded Age leading up to WWI. Many scholars argue that it is during this period that the United States turned into a modern nation due primarily to their unprecedented industrial and economic growth. We shall be looking at the implications of these huge transformations and their reverberations in some of the exemplary literary and non-literary texts of the period. The four sections we shall be examining in greater detail are the echoes of the Civil War; the perils and pitfalls of post-war Reconstruction effort, and the question of race; economic relations and the way these affect social relations; and, finally, the emergence of new identities, both in the public and the private sphere.
Course requirements: Regular attendance; participation in class discussions; in-class and home assignments (15%); continuous evaluation (a mid-term and a final test, mandatory for all students); seminar paper (6-7 pp, 2000-2500 words, MLA style). (45%); seminar paper (6-7 pp, 2000-2500 words, MLA style) (40%).
Primary texts:
Hermann Melville: from Battle Pieces (poetry)
Walt Whitman: from Drum-Taps and Memories of President Lincoln (poetry)
Mark Twain: Pudd’nhead Wilson (novel)
Louise May Alcott: “My Contraband” (short story)
Charles Chesnutt: “The Doll” (short story)
Elizabeth Stuart Phelps: The 10th of January (novella)
Frank Norris: The Octopus, A Story of California (novel)
Abraham Cahan: short stories (selection)
Willa Cather: O Pioneers! (novel)
Readings (subject to change)
February/ March
Week 1: Introduction; critical methods; literary and cultural contexts;
Herman Melville: from Battle Pieces
Week 2: Melville: cont.
Week 3: Walt Whitman: from Drum-Taps and Memories of President Lincoln
Week 4: Mark Twain: Pudd’nhead Wilson
Week 5: Mark Twain: Pudd’nhead Wilson *First Annotated Bibliography due: Wed, 26th March.*
April
Week 1: Louisa May Alcott: „My Contraband“; Charles Chesnutt: „The Doll“
Week 2: Elizabeth Stuart Phelps: The 10th of January
Week 3: Phelps: cont. *Mid-term: Wed, 16th April.*
Week 4: Easter Monday: no class. Frank Norris: The Octopus, A Story of California
Week 5: Norris: cont.
May
Week 1: Abraham Cahan: a selection of short-stories
Week 2: Cahan: cont. *Second Annotated Biblography due: Mon, 5th May.*
Week 3: Willa Cather: O Pioneers!
Week 4: Cather: cont. *Seminar paper due: Wed, 28th May.*
June
Week 1: Course evaluation. *Final test: Wed, 4th June.*
A course reader will be made available on Omega.
