English 791AL - S-19th Century American Lit

This graduate survey will offer a broad introduction to nineteenth century U.S. literature and the critical conversations that subtend it. We will consider both canonical works and lesser-known literary productions of the nineteenth century to familiarize ourselves with relevant schools and literary historical periods. We will also explore relevant methods to the study of this period?recovery work, literary historicism, and critical cultural studies approaches. Representative primary works will include those penned by Herman Melville, Frederick Douglass, Fanny Fern, William Apess, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Jacobs, Emily Dickinson, Walt Whitman, Sitkala-Sa, Jose Marti, and more.