Discussion Leaders

The job of the discussion leader is to instigate class discussion. This means being responsible for the critical readings &/or related cultural objects and (briefly) relating them to the day's primary texts. If no critical readings are assigned for the day, the discussion leader should bring in one or two lines of critical inquiry which (s)he will propose for the class. A one page response to the readings by the discussion leader is due the day before class in the class folder on the Courses Server. Please sign up for two days and make a note of which days you are leading discussion. If you sign up for a day which says "your choice of essay" you may choose an essay from the list (or find your own) but you must announce your choice one week prior to leading discussion.

Week 2

S 2/2 Make-up Class Vincent V

M 2/3 Transcendentalists Jonathan R.

W 2/5 Emerson, "Self-Reliance" Tina B.

F 2/7 Emerson, "Nature" Brooke L.

Week 3

M 2/10 Dona Brown, "The Uses of Scenery: Scenic Touring in the White Mountains," Michael K.

W 2/12 Fuller's Women in the Nineteenth-Century Kathryn B.

F 2/14 Sollors, Inventing Ethnicity Kyle

Week 4

M 2/17 Thoreau, Walden Andrew W.

W 2/19 Thoreau, Walden Jamie B.
Miller, "The Iconography of Wrecked Ships"

F 2/21 Thoreau, Walden Tom Belote AND Amanda Levinson
David Leverenz, Manhood and the American Renaissance (9-41)

Week 5:

M 2/24 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities (selections) Kyle

W 2/26 "Life at Brook Farm" Tom B.

F 2/28 Hawthorne, The Blithedale Romance Brooke

Week 6:

M 3/3 Brownson, "The Laboring Classes," Ivy

W 3/5 The Lowell Offering; Adam H.

F 3/7 TBA Bridget

Weeks 7 & 8:

M 3/10 Moby-Dick Tracy U.
& Essay of Your Choice

W 3/12 Moby-Dick Jonathan R.
Essay:

F 3/14 Moby-Dick Courtney
Essay:

M 3/17 Moby-Dick Michael K.
Essay:

W 3/19 Moby-Dick Vanessa
Essay:

F 3/21 Moby-Dick Jon N.
Essay:

Weeks 9 & 10

M 3/31Uncle Tom's Cabin Elissa
& Essay of Your Choice

W 4/2 Uncle Tom's Cabin David S.
Essay:

F 4/4 Uncle Tom's Cabin Tina
Ann Douglas, The Feminization of American Culture
Plantation Architecture

M 4/7 Uncle Tom's Cabin Kathryn
Essay:

W 4/9 Uncle Tom's Cabin Tracy
Essay:

F 4/11 Uncle Tom's Cabin Andrew
Essay:

Week s 11 & 12: Roots of An African American Narrative Tradition

W 4/16 Frederick Douglass Courtney AND Amanda
Stepto, "I Rose and Found My Voice"

F 4/18 Frederick Douglass David
Gates, "The Trope of the Talking Book" (Siginifying Monkey)

M 4/21 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life
& Essay of Choice Ivy

W 4/23 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life
& Essay of Choice Adam AND Elissa

F 4/25 Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life
& Essay of Choice Vanessa

Week 13: The Voice of the People

M 4/28 Whitman Jamie
Emerson, "The Poet"

W 4/30 Whitman
& Essay of Choice Jenny

F 5/2 Whitman
& Essay of Choice Jon