120127 VO Survey of Literatures in English 2 (2009W)

The lecture course will provide opportunities to discuss important public and literary documents from the colonial and early federal periods as well as from the 19th century until the closing of the frontier. In addition to several texts which have become classics (Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography, Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer) and early poetic texts (for instance, by Anne Bradstreet, Philip Freneau) the course will consider in particular selected tales by Edgar Allan Poe (whose birth 200 years ago is commemorated in 2009). Considering the recent election of a "Chief Executive" who has also African ancestors the emergence of early voices of African American spokespersons will also be discussed.
A Reader containing excerpts from the documents mirroring the colonial experience, and the gradual development of a distinct national identity will be available. It will incorporate tales/early short stories by Washington Irving, E. A. Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville, as well as excerpts from life writings by such figures as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Ann Jacobs.