Literature 3323: The American Renaissance 1820-1865

Shari Goldberg Office JO 5.106 Fall 2010

sgoldberg@utdallas.edu Office hours T 2:45-3:45 T R 4:00-5:15
972-883-4470 R 6:00-7:00 MSET 1.202

Course description
The term "American Renaissance" was coined in 1941 by a scholar called F. O. Matthiessen, who was
fascinated by "how great a number of our past masterpieces were produced in one extraordinarily
concentrated moment of expression." This moment seemed to him a renaissance or re-birth, and it is with
an eye toward the newness of these masterpieces that we will approach them. What does it mean to write
at the beginning, we will ask, to create a national literature where none has existed previously? How does
such writing go about discovering—and inventing—many ideas that we take for granted today, such as
America, freedom, life, death, nature, beauty and, perhaps most of all, self? Our goal will be to understand
these ideas in their context and in ours, and to pursue how they continue to speak to the way we read and
live as Americans.

Student learning objectives

This course aims to have students:
1. become familiar with key writers and texts from a period of important literary production.
2. learn how to pay close attention to, and make sense of, the language of historical texts.
3. write about texts by interpreting and analyzing quotations from them.

Texts
I have ordered the following from Off-Campus Books on Campbell Road (972) 907-8398:
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (Norton)
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays & Poems (Library of America)
Nathaniel Hawthorne, Young Goodman Brown & Other Short Stories (Dover)
Herman Melville, Melville's Short Novels (Norton)
Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (Princeton UP)

I prefer these editions for their accuracy and notations. For a less expensive, also acceptable option, you
may purchase Dover editions of these books from the on-campus bookstore. Finally, all of the texts we will
study (with the exception of Emily Dickinson's poetry) are in the public domain and are thus easy to locate
on the Web. If you choose to read the texts online (or print them on your own), please be sure to use
reputable sites such as Project Gutenberg at <gutenberg.org>. <Emersoncentral.com> is recommended
for Emerson texts and <walden.org> for Thoreau texts.
Reading Practices
What matters to me is not whether you have a bound or printed or screen copy; as long as it is a reliable,
legible one, I insist only that:
1. you bring it to class.
2. you read it closely, engage with its ideas, and think seriously about what and how it means before class.
You are responsible for providing yourself with reading materials and an environment that will allow you
to do so.
3. you number the paragraphs of the texts to make passages easy to find in class (unless you have a
searchable text with you on your laptop).
4. you use the edition on e-reserves for texts marked <ER>. The e-reserves site is:
<http://www.utdallas.edu/library/services/reserves/reservesvc.htm>; you may also navigate there from
the library homepage. Our course page is:
<http://utdallas.docutek.com/eres/coursepage.aspx?cid=888>. The password is: winkle.

Assignments
Each Tuesday: Brief (approximately 300 words) writing assignments based on the reading are due.
These will be an opportunity for you to demonstrate your engagement with the texts as well as your
involvement in the class discussions. Grades for these will be a check (grade equivalent of 85%), check plus
(grade equivalent of 95%) or zero. Keep in mind that work must be above average to receive credit.

◇ a check means that the assignment reflects an adequate reading of the text (usually, 1-2 hours of
reading). Check papers demonstrate a basic understanding of the terms of the question and/or a
deliberate effort to make sense of them. They are polished but may contain (limited!) factual or
grammatical mistakes.
◇ a check-plus means that the assignment reflects a serious engagement with the text (usually, 2-3 hours of
reading). Check-plus papers answer the question thoroughly and with good prose. Often, they also ask
"So what?". This means that they grapple with the consequences of their answers and attempt to extend
them to other aspects of the text or to class discussions.
◇ a zero means that the assignment presents no information that could not be gleaned from a cursory
search about the text on the Web (10 minutes of reading). A paper that reflects more time reading, but
does not answer the question asked, will also be a zero. Finally, a paper with seriously sloppy writing will
be a zero. In other words, assignments that might be graded C or D in other contexts will be zeroes
here—so don't bother turning in such work.

Late assignments will not be accepted. In case of illness or emergency, they may be emailed to me before
the class meeting time if a hard copy is also delivered in or by the next class. Assignments will be posted
each Friday at: <http://spgoldberg.edublogs.org/>.

Thursday 10/7: Midterm exam is due in class. The exam will consist of three questions about key texts
engaged during class and will be handed out and explained one week prior to the due date. Each question
should generate a 600-700 word response, for a total length of 1,800-2,100 words; exams should
demonstrate proficiency with the texts as well as familiarity with ideas discussed in class.

Thursday 12/9: Final exam is due in my office by 10 am. Format and evaluation criteria are same as
those for the midterm, above.
Course requirements
Students must:
◇ Act respectfully towards the viewpoints of others—those present in class and those whom we will read.
◇ Be prepared and present in all class sessions. Four absences, latenesses, or unprepared presences will
result in the final grade being lowered by one full grade. More than four absences may result in failure of
the course.
◇ Use personal technology responsibly. Looking up an unfamiliar word is okay; texting your friends is not.
In general, I prefer phones to be off desks.
◇ Complete all assignments on their own and on time. Reading is the primary assignment and must be taken
seriously. Students are also responsible for participating in class discussions and completing all writing
assignments—in addition to other work announced in the course of the term.

Evaluation
Student performance will be evaluated on an A-F grading scale, with components weighed as follows:
Weekly response papers 35%
Contribution to class 15%
Midterm exam 25%
Final exam 25%

University Policies
For information about university-wide policies such as academic integrity, grievances, incompletes, disability
services, and plagiarism, please see the provost's Web site: <http://go.utdallas.edu/syllabus-policies>.

This syllabus is subject to change at the instructor’s discretion. Please see me in the event that its terms become
difficult to meet.
Schedule of readings and assignments, DUE ON THE DATE LISTED

T 8/24 Washington Irving, "Rip Van Winkle" <ER>

R 8/26 Emerson, "The Lord's Supper Sermon"
T 8/31 Emerson, "The American Scholar"
R 9/2 Emerson, "Self Reliance"
T 9/7 Emerson, "Spiritual Laws"
R 9/9 Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers: "Saturday"
T 9/14 Thoreau, A Week: "Wednesday"
R 9/16 Thoreau, A Week: "Thursday"
T 9/21 Thoreau, "Civil Disobedience" <ER>
R 9/23 Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown"
Hawthorne, "The Birthmark"
T 9/28
Midterm assigned
R 9/30 Hawthorne, "The Prophetic Pictures" & Melville, "Hawthorne and His Mosses" <ER>
T 10/5 Poe, "William Wilson"
Midterm exams due
R 10/7
Poe, "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar"
T 10/12 Poe, "The Black Cat" and "The Imp of the Perverse"

R 10/14 Poe, "The Purloined Letter"

T 10/19 Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: Preface + chapters 1-8
R 10/21 Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: chapters 9-11 (Appendix optional)
T 10/26 Douglass, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?"
R 10/28 Melville, "Bartleby"
T 11/2 Melville, "Benito Cereno": pages 34-69 (up to the shaving scene)
R 11/4 Melville, "Benito Cereno": pages 69-102
Images of African-American Slavery and Freedom
http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/list/082_slave.html
T 11/9
Slave Narratives: Voices and Faces from the Collection
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/snhtml/snhome.html
R 11/11 Dickinson, selected poems <ER>
T 11/16 Dickinson, selected poems
R 11/18 Dickinson, selected poems
T 11/23 Whitman, selections from Specimen Days <ER>
R 11/25 Thanksgiving Break
T 11/30 Whitman, "Song of Myself" <ER>
Whitman, "Song of Myself"
R 12/2
Final assigned
R 12/9 Final papers due in my office by 10 am.