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Library 41; MWF 1:10-2:00
Spring 1998
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Prof. Laura Arnold
Office: CC307
Office Hours: M 2-3, W 3-4, F 12-1
Phone #s: Work (503) 771-1112 x7329
Class Web Page: http://academic.reed.edu/english/Courses/English341gs/index.html
E-mail: Laura.Arnold@Reed.edu Class Email Address: Eng341
Baym, Nina The Norton Anthology of American Literature volume 1 Hannah Foster The Coquette Herman Melville Pierre Daniel Cohen, ed. The Female Marine and Related Works Aphra Behn Oroonoko or the Royal Slave Catalina de Erauso Memoir of a Basque Lieutenant Nun Laura Arnold, ed. Course Reader (available in bookstore)
This course explores the origins and development of masculinity and femininity in American literature to 1865. We will pay close attention to how gender and sexuality were used to construct individual, communal, and racial identities and how definitions of transgressive behavior changed during periods of social unrest and cultural anxiety. Beginning with the "discovery" of the Americas we will address the construction of identity over the course of four centuries and four distinct cultures: the Spanish American colonies, the Puritan colonies, the early Republic, and the early to mid-nineteenth-century United States. Throughout the semester we will be using religion, philosophy, art, history, music, and material culture to enrich our understanding of these cultural and literary shifts.
REQUIREMENTS:
*Attend, prepare for, and participate in conference. Please keep a reading notebook.
*Lead TWO class discussions. For this day you will be asked to write a one to two page reader response that contains either 1) a critique of the article for that day or 2) makes connections between the text and early American materials on-line. This essay needs to be posted on-line using the above class email address at least 24 hours before class. All members of the class need to check either their email or the class web page to read the discussion leader's paper before each class.
*In addition to the above papers, write one short (4-5) page paper and one research paper (6-8 pages). A revision and/or web version of each of these will be due two weeks after the first draft is due. You will be asked to do several one page informal writing and web assignments as well.
*Peer response. You will be asked to read and respond to your group members' papers.
*NOTE: You may turn in one paper up to one week late (except the reader response for the day you are leading discussion), but all other work must be turned in on time for full credit. (Please choose your extension wisely.)
Week 1: Gender and the Work of Discovery
M 1/26 Introduction
Article: Andrew Delbanco, "Reading for Pleasure" (Reader)
Useful Terms in Feminist and Queer Theory (Reader)
W 1/28 Possessing New Bodies: Unpacking the Metaphors of Discovery
Texts: Columbus's Letters (Norton 8-13; Reader)
Vespucci, from Mundus Novus (Reader)
Artwork & Maps (On-line & Slides in class)
Articles: Margarita Zamora, "Gender & Discovery"(Reading
Columbus, folders on reserve)Web Assignment: Images of Columbus and the "Discovery" of America:
F 1/30 Dangerous Others and Bodily Corruptions
Texts: Columbus, Diary on Cannibals (Reader)
Cortés, excerpts on the Amazons from the "Fourth Letter" (Reader)
Cortés, letters (Norton 19-23)
Articles (please read at least one of the following):
Peter Hulme, "Columbus and the Cannibals" (Colonial Encounters F1619.3.G68 H85 1986: pages 13-44)Alison Taufer, "The Only Good Amazon....' (Playing With Gender, ed. Brink, Horowitz, and Condert 35-51: PN721 .P55 1991 & folders)
In-class: slides
Week 2: The Male Body Under Siege
M 2/2 The Male Body: Sin, Effeminacy, and Power
Texts: Bartolomé de las Casas, The Very Brief Relation (Norton 14-19)
Cabeza de Vaca, Relation of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca (Norton 40-51 & Reader)
Articles: Walter Williams, "The Abominable Sin: The Spanish Campaign against 'Sodomy,' and Its Results in Modern Latin America" (The Spirit and the Flesh 131-51: E98.S48 W55 1986 & folders)
Adrienne Rich, "Compulsory Heterosexuality" (Reader)
W 2/4 Mimicking Masculinity: Transvestite in the New World
Texts: Catalina De Erauso, Lieutenant Nun: vii-80
Suggested Essays (to be chosen by discussion leaders):
"'Becoming Male': Women Martyrs and Ascetics" (Carnal Knowing, Margaret Miles 53-80: folders on reserve)
Introduction," Immodest Acts (BX4705.C3134 B76 1986 & folders)
Ian Maclean, Chapters 2-3, The Renaissance Notion of Woman (Reader)
Discussion Leader Paper available via the Class Archive: http://www.reed.edu/reed/archives/eng341/
F 2/6 Catalina De Erauso, Lieutenant Nun: vii-80 (cont.)
Article: see above
Week 3: England and the Romance of Colonization
M 2/9 Virginia and the American Man
Texts: John Smith, Generall Historie ("Outline," "Dedication & Preface," "Second Book," "Maps & Illustrations"; Course Reader)
Article: J.A. Leo Lemay, The American Dream of Captain John Smith (folders on reserve)
Discussion Leader Paper: Kristi Latimer
F 2/11 The Romance of Colonization
Texts: John Smith, Generall Historie ("Recension," "Book Three Chapter II"; Course Reader & Norton 104-112)
Begin Reading Aphra Behn's Oroonoko or, the Royal Slave
Articles: Hulme, Colonial Encounters (Chapter 4; F1619.3.G68 H85 1986)
In-class: Bring Cultural Artifacts, Cartoons, etc.; Slides of Pocahontas
Discussion Leader Paper: Megan Langford
F 2/13 The Romance of Slavery
Texts: Behn, Aphra, Oroonoko or, the Royal Slave
Article: Margaret Ferguson, "Juggling the Categories of Race, Class, and Gender:
Aphra Behn's Oroonoko (Women, "Race," & Writing in the Early Modern Period, ed. Hendricks & Parker 209-224: PN471 .W556 1994 & folders).
Discussion Leader Paper: Kim Oldenburg
M 2/16 The Puritan Body Politic
Texts: Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation (Norton 129-59)
Winthrop, "A Model of Christian Charity" (Norton 169-81)
Article: Michael Warner, "New English Sodom," Queering the Renaissance, 330-58: HQ76.3.E8 Q44 1994 & folders)
W 2/18 Good-wives & Good Speech
Texts: Anne Bradstreet, "The Spirit and the Flesh" (Norton 209-12)
"The Author to Her Book" (Norton 212)
"Before the Birth of One of Her Children" (212-13)
"To My Dear and Loving Husband" (Norton 213)
"A Letter to Her Husband, Absent ..." (213)
"In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Elizabeth..." (217)
"In Memory of My Dear Grandchild Anne..." (217-18
"On My Dear Grandchild Simon..." (218)
"Here Follows Some Verse upon the Burning of Our House July 10th, 1666" (Norton 219-20)
Article: Margaret Olofson Thickstun, "The Pauline Precedent" (Fictions of the Feminine : Puritan Doctrine and the Representation of Women, pp. 1-36: folders on reserve)
Peter Sacks, "Interpreting the Genre: The Elegy and the Work of Mourning,"
(The English Elegy 1-37: PR509.E4 S23 1985)
On-line: gravestones
Journal Assignment--Close reading of One Poem (one Page)
F 2/20 Monstrous Births and Deviant Tongues
Texts: Winthrop, "The Journal of John Winthrop" (Norton 181-87)
The Antinomian Crisis:
John Cotton, "A Treatise of the Covenant of Grace" (Reader)
Anne Hutchinson, "The Examination of Mrs. A.H." (Reader)
John Winthrop, "A Defense of an Order of Court" (Reader)
Henry Vane, "A Brief Answer" (Reader)
Articles: Anne Schutte, "'Such Monstrous Births': A Neglected Aspect of the Antinomian Controversy" (Renaissance Quarterly vol. 38 no. 1, 1985 Spring: 85-106: folders on reserve)
Carla Mazzio, "Sins of the Tongue" (The Body in Parts 53-70: folders on reserve).
M 2/23 Sodomy and The Day of Doom
Texts: Wigglesworth, Diary (Reader)
Wigglesworth, "The Day of Doom" (Norton 227-43)
Bible: Sodom and Gomorrah (Reader)
Article: Walter Hughes, "'Meat Out of the Eater': Panic and Desire in American Puritan Poetry" (Engendering Men, ed. Boone, 102-21: PS152 .E49 1990)
The Sexuality of Christ in Renaissance Art (Reader)
W 2/25 Goodwives and Sunqsquaws
Texts: Mary Rowlandson, Captivity and Restoration (Norton 244-75)
Articles: Susan Howe, "The Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Rowlandson" (The Birth-mark 89-128; folders on reserve)
Discussion Paper: Lisa and Amy
F 2/27 Goodwives and Sunqsquaws
Texts: Mary Rowlandson, Captivity and Restoration (Norton 244-75)
Article: Robert Grumet, "Sunqsquaws, Shamans, and Tradeswomen" (Women and Colonization, ed. Etienne & Leacock: 43-61: folders on reserve)
S 2/28 Draft Paper #1 Due (4-5 pages): Close Reading
M 3/2 Witches, Witches!
Texts: Mather, "The Wonders of the Invisible World" (Norton 320-23)
Articles: A. Delbanco, The Death of Satan (3-64: PS169.G66 D45 1995/folders)
Discussion Leader: Rebecca
W 3/4 The Language of Masculine Devotion
Texts: Taylor, "Meditation 42" (Norton 283-85)
Taylor, "Meditation 26" (Norton 285-86)
Taylor, "The Soul's Groan for Succor" (Norton 287-88
Taylor, "Christ's Reply," (Norton 288-91)
Taylor "Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children" (Norton 292-93)
Taylor, "Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold" (Norton 294-95)
Taylor, "Huswifery" (Norton 295)
Taylor, "A Fig for Thee, Oh! Death" (Norton 295-97)
Taylor, Poems in Reader
Bible, Song of Songs (Reader)
Article: David Leverenz, (The Language of Puritan Feeling ix-22: folders on reserve
Journal Assignment--Close Reading of one poem (one page)
Discussion Leader: Bridget Elmer
F 3/6 NO CLASS
M 3/9 Taylor Continued
W 3/11Cultural Cross-Dressing
Texts: Mayhew, Indian Converts (Reader)
Mather, Ornaments for the Daughters of Zion pp.1 -31 (Reader)
Article: Kathleen Bragdon, "Gender as a Social Category in Native Southern New England," Ethnohistory 43:4 (Fall 1996): 573-92 (folders on reserve)
Discussion Leader: Debbie
F 3/13 SPEAK OUT in S.U.
SUNDAY 3/15 MAKE-UP CLASS Library 203 2-4 pm
Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography (Parts 1 & 2: Norton 487-548)
Franklin, "Outline of the Autobiography" (Reader)
Article: Anthony Rotundo, "Community to Individual: The Transformation of Manhood" (American Manhood, 10-30: HQ1090.3 .R69 1993 & folders)
Discussion Leader: Bridget Cross
S 3/14 Paper #1 Revision due
M 3/16 Rethinking Captivity
Olaudah Equiano, "Interesting Narrative" (Norton 764-97)
Discussion Leader: Megan B.
W 3/18 Women and Captivity
Texts: Lucy Terry, "Bars Fight" (Reader)
Phillis Wheatley, "On Being Brought From Africa" (Norton 815)
"To S.M., A Young African Painter," (Norton 821)
"To His Excellency George Washington" (Norton 821-22)
Article: Frances Foster , "Sometimes by a Simile, a Victory's Won" (Written By Herself 23-43: PS153.N5 F68 1993)
Discussion Leader: Tracy
F 3/20 Royall Tyler, "The Contrast" (Norton 839-78)
Discussion Leaders: Blair & Miriam
CLASS WILL MEET IN THE RHODODENDRON GARDEN! (unless it rains)
3/21-29 Spring Break
Week 9: The Feminine Ideal & Revolutionary Women
M 3/30 New Female Conduct
Hannah Foster, The Coquette (1-85)
Cathy Davidson, "Privileging the Feme Covert" (Revolution and the Word 110-150:
PS374.S67 D38 1986 and folders)
Discussion Leader: Debbie (Also see explanation of Homosocial Desire)
W 4/1 Hannah Foster, The Coquette (86-end)
Discussion Leader: Lisa W.
F 4/3 Woman Warriors
Texts: Herman Mann, Deborah Sampson (Reader)
Judith Sargent Murray, "On the Equality of the Sexes" (Reader)
Artwork: Columbia (Slides)
Article: John Higham, "Indian Princess and Roman Goddess: The First Female Symbols of America" (folders on Reserve)
Week 10: Rugged Masculinity and Gothic Terror
M 4/6 Rugged Masculinity
Texts: Cooper, "The Slaughter of Pigeons" and "The Literature and the Arts of the United States" (Norton 931-48)
Essay: Emerson, "Self Reliance" (Norton 1045-61)
Discussion Leader: Rebecca
W 4/8 Haunting the House: Domestic Terror and National Decay
Texts: Poe, "Ligeia," "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Imp of the Perverse" (Norton 1453-74, 1514-18)
Henry Ward Beecher, "The Strange Woman" (Lectures to Young Men, on Various Important Subjects 1844: Folders on Reserve)
Discussion Leader: Maura
F 4/10 Proposal for Research Paper Due; Web Workshop--meet in Library 18. Bring electronic form of proposal to workshop.
M 4/13 Text: Lucy Brewer, The Female Marine, PART 1 pp. 61-80
Article: D. Cohen, Introduction to The Female Marine, 1-46
W 4/15 Text: Lucy Brewer, The Female Marine, PARTS 2 & 3, pp. 81-131
Article: Judith Butler: "Performative Acts anmd Gender Constitution" (Reader)
OPTIONAL: Barbara Welter, "Cult of True Womanhood" (Folders on reserve)
F 4/17 Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter (Custom House and Chapters 1-4)
Suggested Essays (to be chosen by discussion leaders):
Case Studies in Contemporary Criticism (all found in the Bedford Edition of the Scarlet Letter Edited by Ross Murfin (PS 1868 A2 M87 1991):
PSYCHOANALYTICAL CRITICISM: Diehl, "Re-Reading The Letter: Hawthorne, the Fetish, and the (Family) Romance"(223-51)
READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM: David Leverenz, "Mrs. Hawthorne's Headache" (252-74)
FEMINIST CRITICISM: Shari Benstock, "The Scarlet Letter (A)dorée, or the Female Body Embroidered" (275-303)
DECONSTRUCTION: Michael Ragussis, "Silence, Family Discourse, and Fiction" (304-29)
NEW HISTORICISM: Sacvan Bercovitch, "Hawthorne's A-Morality of Compromise" (330-58)
Other Famous & Useful Articles:
Robert Martin, "Hester Prynne, C'est Moi" (Engendering Men, ed. Boone & Cadden, 122-39: PS152 .E49 1990)
Sacvan Bercovitch, The Office of the Scarlet Letter (PS1868 .B395 1991)
Leland S. Person, Jr, Chap. 6 Aesthetic Headaches Women and a Masculine Poetics in Poe, Melville, And Hawthorne (PS374.W6 P47 1988)
Richard H. Millington, Chap. 4, Practicing Romance Narrative Form and Cultural Engagement in Hawthorne's Fiction (PS1892.S58 M55 1992)
S 4/18 Draft of Research Paper Due
M 4/20 Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter (Chapters 5-14)
W 4/22 Hawthorne, Scarlet Letter (Chapters 15-end)
F 4/24 Melville, Pierre (Chapters 1-6)
Suggested Essays TBA
S 4/25 Peer Responses Due
Week 13: Rethinking Home Space
M 4/27 Melville, Pierre (Chapters 7-13)
W 4/29 Melville, Pierre (Chapters 15-20)
F 5/1 Melville, Pierre (Chapters 21-26)
S 5/4 Hard Copy Revisions of Paper Due with Web Info Written into the Text. (Seniors May Have Until 5/11)
S 5/11 Final Draft of Research Paper Due
