American Studies 365 - The Unprinted Page

(Offered as ENGL 415 and AMST 365.) This course will focus on the manuscript culture of nineteenth- and twentieth-century America, using manuscripts as a means of thinking about the act of writing, the implications of audience and publication, and the relations between the private and public word. We will study the private forms of diaries, letters, and scrapbooks.  We will look at the traces of the writing process in manuscripts of ultimately published works–the window into the literary creation that manuscripts provide.  The heart of the course will be independent research with students drawing on rich local archives to do some manuscript recovering of their own.  As part of the preparations for the Amherst College bicentennial, research this semester will focus on materials written by Amherst students over the past two hundred years.  A core aspect of coursework will be developing an online exhibition to analyze and share these materials to produce a literary history of Amherst College.

Open to juniors and seniors.  Limited to 15 students.  Spring semester.  Professor K. Sánchez-Eppler.