American Literature to 1900: Nation and Narration

American Literature to 1900
Nation and Narration

English 341, Spring 1997

Location: [Reed College] [Department of English] [Laura Arnold] Nation and Narration

Name of Instructor
Laura Arnold
When It's Offered:
Spring 1997
Days It Meets:
MWF 12-1
Prerequisites:
Two 200 level English courses or consent of instructor
Requirements This Class Fulfills:
For Majors: one 300 level course; For Non-majors: one unit Group A

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Description

This class investigates how the diverse literary genres of the American Renaissance have been used to construct a national identity in the mid-nineteenth-century, the 1940s, and the 1990s. We will use the theories of Homi Bhabha, Benedict Anderson, and Werner Sollors to examine the role of narrative strategies. We will also examine issues such as Transcendentalism, immigration, urbanization, religion, race, feminism, domesticity, masculinity, and nature in the formation of a "national" identity and culture. Throughout the semester we will be analyzing the ways in which art, architecture, urban planning, philosophy, tourism, music, and historical texts from this period enrich our understanding of American Romanticism.

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