American Literature

American Literature (since 2007/8)

This is a high school level course spanning two years. We use the book, http://ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com/widgets/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&OneJS=1&Operation=GetAdHtml&MarketPlace=US&source=ac&ref=qf_sp_asin_til&ad_type=product_link&tracking_id=movie06f-20&marketplace=amazon&region=US&placement=0812046943&asins=0812046943&linkId=135e6decfa83a4f9cf90621c1e2c252a&show_border=false&link_opens_in_new_window=false&price_color=333333&title_color=0066c0&bg_color=ffffff as a springboard — it gives themes, keys, quotations, and a glossary of introductory terms for your introductory college course (I believe in challenging high school courses!). We also use the series Masterplots (8 volumes; newer versions are 12 volumes) for indepth studies into each book that we study. (Masterplots is a *very* expensive series — I bought our set on ebay for much less than retail!)

Here’s an awesome website for great literature — The Great Books

The Colonial Period, beginnings to 1790

Major study: “Poor Richard’s Almanac” (Benjamin Franklin)

Extra reading:

“Magnalia Christi Americana” (Cotton Mather)

“Samuel Sewall’s Diary” (Samuel Sewall)

“A Jonathan Edwards Reader” (Jonathan Edwards)

“The Works of Anne Bradstreet” (Anne Bradstreet)

The New Republic, 1790 – 1820

Major study: “The Portable Thomas Jefferson” (Thomas Jefferson)

The Flowering of American Romanticism, 1820 – 1865

Major study: “The Scarlet Letter” (Nathaniel Hawthorne)

Extra reading:

“Moby Dick” (Herman Melville)

“Leaves of Grass” (Walt Whitman)

“Uncle Tom’s Cabin” (Harriet Beecher Stowe)

“Georgia Scenes” (Augustus Baldwin Longstreet)

“The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes” (Oliver Wendell Holmes)

The Continental Nation, 1865 – 1900

Major study: “Call of the Wild” (Jack London)

Extra reading:

“Rise of Silas Lapham” (William Dean Howells)

“Red Badge of Courage” (Stephen Crane)

“The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” (Mark Twain)

The Progressive Era, 1900 – 1920

Major study: “My Antonia” (Willa Cather)

Extra reading:

“O Pioneers” (Willa Cather)

“Complete Poems of Robert Frost” (Robert Frost)

“Complete Poems of Carl Sandburg” (Carl Sandburg)

American Literature in the Mainstream of Western Culture, 1920 – 1945

Major study: “Long Day’s Journey into Night” (Eugene O’Neill)

Extra reading:

“The Iceman Cometh” (Eugene O’Neill)

“Their Eyes Were Watching God” (Zora Neale Hurston)

“Four Quartets” (T. S. Eliot)

“Murder in the Cathedral” (T. S. Eliot)

“Grapes of Wrath” (John Steinbeck)

Cultural Diversity in American Literature, 1945 – 1980

Major study: “Mr Sammler’s Planet” (Saul Bellow)

Extra reading:

“Adventures of Augie March” (Saul Bellow)

“Invisible Man” (Ralph Ellison)

“Glass Menagerie” (Tennessee Williams)

“Death of a Salesman” (Arthur Miller)