Engl 2110 American Lit 1, O'Donnell, ETSU, Fall 2024

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[ Policies ] [ Calendar ]

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Calendar
last update: October 2, 2024

- Class meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from10:30 to 11:25am in Wharf-Pickel 517.

- Note that I have cancelled five Friday class meetings this semester, due to scheduling issues. Those dates are Sep 13; Sep 27; Oct 11; Oct 25; and Nov 8.

- See "Policies" link, above, for a calendar overview.

WEEK 1

Monday, Aug 26

Introductions.

Wednesday, Aug 28

Read "My Kinsman, Major Molineaux", by Nathaniel Hawthorne, on pages 308-321 in the 2nd volume of the 10th edition of the Norton Anthology of American Lit.

Friday, Aug 30

Read "Young Goodman Brown," by Nathaniel Hawthorne, on pages 321-329 in the 2nd volume of the Norton anthology.

WEEK 2

Monday, Sep 2: Labor day.

Wednesday, Sep 4

Read "The Author's Account of Himself," from The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, by Washington Irving (p27-28). And read "Rip Van Winkle" (p29), also by Irving.

Also read James Fenimore Cooper, excerpt from Chapter III of Volume II of The Pioneers [The Slaughter of the Pigeons] (p72).

Friday, Sep 6

Read Edgar Allan Poe, "Ligeia" and "The Black Cat." (I will not necessarily provide page numbers for reading assignments, from here on out. Use the index, in the back of the anthology, to find page numbers for the readings.)

Read "The Humbug: Edgar Allan Poe and the economy of horror." By Jill Lepore. The New Yorker, April 27, 2009, here online: www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2009/04/27/090427crat_atlarge_lepore. (Click here for a cached version.)

Reading response due: Respond to Poe's short stories. Do you enjoy the stories? Do they creep you out? What effects do the stories have on you, and why? Describe the narrators. Describe the settings. 1-2 typed pages. Bring a hard copy of your response to class, and be prepared to pass it around to other students.

WEEK 3

Monday, Sep 9: Read Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life...[1845]; the headnotes, preface and chapters 1-9.

Wednesday, Sep 11: Read Douglass chapters 10-11, and the appendix.

Friday, Sep 13: Class cancelled.

WEEK 4

Monday, Sep 16

Read headnotes for Harriet Beecher Stowe (p760-762), and read these 4 chapters from Volume I of Stowe's 1852 novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin: Chapters I, III, VII, and IX; pages 762-794.

Also read "Did a book start the Civil War? 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' is a testament to the power of culture." By David Reynolds. New York Daily News, Monday, April 11, 2011. www.nydailynews.com/opinion/book-start-civil-war-uncle-tom-cabin-testament-power-culture-article-1.112605

Wednesday, Sep 18

Continuing Volume I of Stowe's novel, read chapters XII, XIII, and XIV.

Friday, Sep 20

From Volume II of Stowe's novel, read chapters XXXI, XXXIV and XL; pages 843-859.

Reading response due: Compare Douglass's nonfiction account of American slavery in the decades before the Civil War with H. B. Stowe's fictional account of the same general subject matter. How are these accounts similar? How are they different?

WEEK 5

Monday, Sep 23

Read "The Cherokee Leader Who Paved the Way for MLK." By Steve Inskeep. The Washington Post, May 29, 2015. Click here: faculty.etsu.edu/odonnell/readings/inskeep_cherokee_leader.pdf

Read Elias Boudinot -- headnote, and excerpt from the first edition of the Cherokee Phoenix, Feb 21, 1828; pages 287-291.

Read "The Cherokee Memorials," headnote and Memorial of the Cherokee Council dated Nov 5, 1829; pages 292-297. And read the letter from R. W. Emerson to Martin Van Buren, April 23, 1838; pages 301-304.

Wednesday, Sep 25: Class cancelled.

Friday, Sep 27: Class cancelled.

WEEK 6

Monday, Sep 30

Read Ralph Waldo Emerson's poem, "Brahma," here online: www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45868/brahma-56d225936127b

Read Herman Melville's poem, "The Portent," page 1422. 

Read Thoreau, excerpt from "A Plea for Captain John Brown;" pages 1060-1064. 

Wednesday, Oct 2

Read, from Thoreau's Walden, at least one chapter of your choosing, from 8 chapters that are included in our anthology (chaps 1, 2, 7, 11, 12, 16, 17, 18), on pages 947 to 1049. Be prepared to present the chapter you choose, in class. Be prepared to discuss why you chose that chapter, explain what the chapter is about, and select a good passage to read aloud in class.

Friday, Oct 4

Read Ralph Waldo Emerson, "The Divinity School Address;" pages 203-216.

WEEK 7

Monday, Oct 7

Read the first 3 chapters -- pages 406-419 -- of Nathaniel Hawthorne's 1850 novel, The Scarlet Letter.

In-class review for exam 1. Click here for the study guide.

Wednesday, Oct 9

Exam 1, in class today.

Friday, Oct 11: Class cancelled.

WEEK 8

Monday, Oct 14: Fall break. No class.

Wednesday, Oct 16:

Read chapters 4 through 10 -- pages 419-457 -- of The Scarlet Letter.

Friday, Oct 18

Read chapters 11 through 14 -- pages 457-476 -- of The Scarlet Letter.

WEEK 9

Monday, Oct 21

Read chapters 15 through 19 -- pages 476-497 -- of The Scarlet Letter.

Wednesday, Oct 23

Read chapters 20 through 24 -- pages 497-523 -- of The Scarlet Letter.

Friday, Oct 25: Class cancelled. 

WEEK 10

Monday, Oct 28

Read Lincoln's Gettysburg address and 2nd inaugural address, in volume B of the Norton anthology.

Wednesday, Oct 30

Read "When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd" by Whitman, pages 1382-1388 in volume B of the Norton anthology.

Friday, Nov 1

Read three poems that George Moses Horton published in 1865, on pages 1618-1621 of volume B of the Norton.

Read five poems that H. Melville published in 1866, on pages 1422-1425.

WEEK 11

Monday, Nov 4

In volume A of the Norton anthology, read the following by Anne Bradstreet -- "To the Memory of My Dear and Ever Honored Father ..." p218; "To Her Father..." p220; "The Author to Her Book" and "Before the Birth..." p230; "To My Dear and Loving Husband" p237.  Also read the 5 poems on p234-238, and the letter which appear on pages 241-249.

Reading response due: Respond to Bradstreet's poems. What do they tell you about Puritan experience, and the Puritan mindset? Do you feel any connection to Bradstreet? Focus on one or two poems, and quote a passage or two.

Wednesday, Nov 6

Read, in volume A of the Norton anthology, the following poems by Phillis Wheatley -- "On Being Brought..." p715; "To the Right Honourable William..." p715; "To S.M., a Young African Painter..." p721; "To His Excellency General Washington" p722.

Friday, Nov 8: Class cancelled.

WEEK 12

Monday, Nov 11

Read from the Autobiography of Thomas Jefferson, volume A, p622-628 (wherein he discusses the drafting of the Declaration). Read excerpts from "Notes on the State of Virginia," p629-639. 

Wednesday, Nov 13

Read "President Tom’s Cabin: Jefferson, Hemings, and a disclaimed lineage," by Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, September 22, 2008: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/02/22/president-toms-cabin (click here for a cached version). 

Also read "The Monster of Monticello" [on Jefferson's views of race]. By Paul Finkelman. New York Times, November 30, 2012. www.nytimes.com/2012/12/01/opinion/the-real-thomas-jefferson.html

Friday, Nov 15

Read, here online: "Our democracy’s founding ideals were false when they were written. Black Americans have fought to make them true." By Nikole Hannah-Jones. The 1619 Project. The New York Times, August 14, 2019. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/black-history-american-democracy.html

Reading response due: Respond to Nikole Hannah-Jones article. Write a few paragraphs. Bring what you've read by Thomas Jefferson into your discussion.

WEEK 13

Monday, Nov 18

Read Thomas Paine, "The Crisis, No. 1," p607-613 of volume A of the Norton; and Chapters I and II from "The Age of Reason," p613-616. 

Wednesday, Nov 20

Read Ben Franklin, excerpts from Part Two of his autobiography -- including the prefatory short letters by James and Vaughan, respectively -- on pages 504-520 in volume A of the Norton Anthology. Also read Franklin's "The Way to Wealth."  

Friday, Nov 22

Read, here online, "The Creed: What Poor Richard cost Benjamin Franklin," by good ol' Jill Lepore, The New Yorker, Jan 28, 2008: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2008/01/28/the-creed (click here for a cached version). 

WEEK 14

Monday, Nov 25

Read the 25 poems by Emily Dickinson that appear from page 1512 through the top of page 1525, in volume B of the Norton anthology. 

Wednesday and Friday, Nov 27 and 29: Thanksgiving holiday.  

WEEK 15

Monday, Dec 2

Skim the Dickinson poems on pages 1525 to 1544 of volume B of the Norton anthology. Pick 2 poems to read out loud, on your own time. Then come to class prepared to present and discuss the 2 poems that you have selected. 

Wednesday, Dec 4

In-class review for exam 2.

Friday, Dec 6: Exam 2.