| CODE | ENG2079 | ||||||||
| TITLE | American Literature of the Nineteenth Century 1 | ||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 02 - Years 2, 3 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | English | ||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The first part of this study-unit presents three canonical nineteenth century American novels, while the second part introduces students to a few major non-fiction prose works. Part one is an introduction to the thematic and formal qualities of the nineteenth-century American novel, demonstrating how a rich narrative tradition established itself. When Romanticism reached America around 1820, it coincided with the period of national expansion. Working on an older Puritan tradition, the philosophies of Romanticism led to the emergence of a national identity and nurtured the masterpieces of ‘the American Renaissance’. The following novels will be for detailed study: Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter; Herman Melville, Moby Dick; Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn. Norton Critical editions of these novels are recommended. Part two presents a varied range of non-fictional writings relevant to American history to 1900. Romanticism in America followed close on the heels of the Enlightenment, and these two movements shaped the social and political upheavals of the time, leading to the emergence of a characteristic American identity. The following texts are for detailed study: Benjamin Franklin’s Autobiography; Mark Twain’s The Innocents Abroad; Walt Whitman’s Memoranda During the War; Henry David Thoreau’s Walden. Reference will also be made to Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ‘Nature,’ ‘The American Scholar,’ and ‘Self-Reliance’. Reading List: - Leland S. Person, The Scarlet Letter And Other Writings (Norton Critical Edition:2005) - Moby-Dick, Second Edition (Norton Critical Editions) by Melville, Herman 2nd (second) Edition (Norton: 2001) - Emory Elliott (ed.) Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Norton Critical Editions: 1999) - Millington, Richard H. The Cambridge Companion to Nathaniel Hawthorne (Cambridge Companions to Literature) (Cambridge: 2013) - Kaul, A. N., Hawthorne (Englewood-Cliff, N.J., Prentice Hall, 1966) - Bercovitch, Sacvan, The Office of the Scarlet Letter (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1991) - Levine, Robert S. The Cambridge Companion to Herman Melville (Cambridge Companions to Literature) (Cambridge: 2013) - Broadhead, Richard, ed., New Essays on Moby Dick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986) - Robinson, Forrest G. The Cambridge Companion to Mark Twain (Cambridge Companions to Literature) (Cambridge 2012) - Budd, Louis J., ed., New Essays on Mark Twain (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985) - Fishkin, Shelley Fisher, ed., A Historical Guide to Mark Twain (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002) - Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography, edited by J.A. Leo Lemay and P.M. Zall (Norton Critical Edition, 1986) - Ronald W. Clarke Benjamin Franklin: a biography (Weidenfeld & Nicolson:1983) - William Rossi (ed.) Walden, Civil Disobedience and Other Writings (Norton Critical Editions) (Norton: 2008) - Mark Twain The Innocents Abroad, introduced by Jane Jacobs, (Modern Library) (2003) - Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass and other writings, Norton Critical Edition, Michael Moon (ed.) (Norton: 2002) - Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson’s Prose and Poetry, Norton Critical Edition, Joel Porte & Saundra Morris (eds.) (Norton: 2001). |
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| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture | ||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
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| LECTURER/S | Stella Borg Barthet |
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The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2025/6. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
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