Dr. sc. Jelena Šesnić
The Nineteenth-Century American Novel (Spring 2026) (A/ 19)
Course schedule: Mon, 8.45-9.30 (A-123); Wed, 9.30-11.00 (D5)
Office hours: Mon, 12.00-13.00; Thu, 10.00-11.00
Office: B-018
Phone: 01- 4092060
E-mail: jsesnic@m.ffzg.hr
Course description: The novel is a key literary genre in the development of U.S. national literature. The course proposes to chart a development and diversification of the American novel in the nineteenth century as it sustains the idea of American specificity on one hand, while, on the other, reflects derivation from and postcolonial cultural dependence on the European (English) literary models. The growing sense of American cultural self-consciousness will be traced on the exemplary novels which are still important cultural landmarks. In addition, the development of the novel suggests changes of literary styles and periods ranging from romantic to sentimental to realist, while eliciting debates about the nature and role of the novel in society. Additionally, these novels exemplify the most common sub-genres of the American novel at the time.
Requirements: Regular attendance and active participation in the seminar (10%); in-class and home assignments (40 %); written tests (mid-term and final: 50 %; continuous assessment, mandatory)
Primary readings:
- E. A. Poe: The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym (1838; the adventure/ gothic novel)
- Herman Melville: Moby-Dick (1851; romance/ the philosophical novel; with some omissions)
- Harriet Beecher Stowe: Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852; the sentimental novel)
- William Dean Howells: The Rise of Silas Lapham (1885; the realist novel)
Prefaces, manifestos, criticism, reviews:
Nathaniel Hawthorne: Prefaces (selection)
William Dean Howells: “A Call for Realism”
Henry James: The Art of the Novel (selection)
Herman Melville: “Hawthorne and His Mosses”
Mark Twain: “J.F. Cooper’s Literary Offenses”