W 6-8:45 631-2859
Zink 354 Office
Hours: W 5-6
laura-stevens@utulsa.edu TTh
11-12 & by appt.
"Che have been in New-England, but now cham come
o'er"
-anon.,"A West-Country Man's Voyage to New
England," c. 1632
One
of the legacies of the American Revolution has been a tendency to look at
American and English literature as entirely separate traditions. Such an
understanding ignores the many connections that existed up to and beyond the
Revolutionary War, linking the English-speaking residents of the British Isles
and the American colonies to each other. In this course we will study the role
that the written word played in establishing these connections, building a
distinctively transatlantic literary culture. We will attend not only to the
ways in which Britain shaped the literature of its colonies, but also to the
profound influence that texts from and about the Americas exerted on the
imagination and textual production of England's residents. We will see how
individuals on both sides of the ocean maintained ties with each other through
the exchange of texts, and we will see how the English used writing to develop
a national self-image that superceded geographic limitations.
Beginning
with early travel accounts and letters from America, we will explore the ways
in which these reports shaped English readers' understandings of the world
beyond their small island, and of their relation to this outside world. We will
pay particular attention to women's writing and to writing about women, asking
not only how colonial women recorded their observations of America and
understood their relations to England, but also how the colonial and
transatlantic experience contributed to new understandings of gender. Other
central topics will include depictions of African slaves and American Indians,
religious controversy, circum-atlantic identity amidst war, and the development
of a transoceanic culture of sensibility, shown most clearly in the sentimental
novel. We will study scholarly articles alongside primary texts, including
original documents in the McFarlin library's special collections.
Requirements and Course Grade:
Response Papers: By approximately 5:00 on Tuesday evenings, please email to me or leave in my mailbox a 2-3 page response to the week's reading. This response does not need to have a formal tone, structure, or argument, but it should present incisive, articulate ideas about the week's reading. Ideally these responses will provide a launching point for class discussion, and they may provide a basis for your final paper.
Class Presentation: Once during the term each of you will begin class with a 5-10 minute presentation on the week's reading. This presentation should outline some of the major issues you see as relevant to the week's texts, and it should end with at least one question that will provide a starting point for discussion. Please also provide a brief, annotated bibliography of about 5 secondary sources that would be useful to someone teaching a class or writing a paper on the text or texts. You should feel welcome to focus on particular aspects of the day’s reading, rather than feeling obliged to cover all of the material. I would appreciate it if you would notify me a day beforehand of your presentation’s topic, so that I may prepare for class in a way that complements your presentation.
Book Review: You will write a brief (3-5 page) review of a recent scholarly publication relating to the course topic. This review should be of publishable quality, summarizing the book’s main argument, explaining how it relates to current scholarship, and pointing out its strong and weak points. You are welcome to select a text that relates to your own specific interests, and/or find a book that relates to your class presentation or final paper topic. I also will give you a list of possible texts.
Conference Paper: On April 10 and 17 we will hold a mini-conference in the McFarlin Library Faculty Study. During this mini-conference you will present a draft of your final paper to your classmates, to me, and to whomever you and your classmates invite to attend. This paper should last 15-20 minutes. It should be read and discussed in a format approximating, as closely as possible, the atmosphere of an academic conference. Feedback from the audience and from an appointed respondent will help you develop your ideas for your final paper.
Conference Response: For this mini-conference each of you will be assigned the task of writing and delivering a formal response to a paper delivered by one of your classmates. This response should be constructive and helpful to your classmate, as he or she sets about completing the final paper. Hopefully it will also offer a platform for general discussion by the audience of your classmate’s paper.
Final Paper: The most important component of your semester grade will be your final paper. This paper should be 12-15 pages long (double-spaced, 12 pt. Font, etc.), it should incorporate secondary and/or historical sources as needed, and it should set out to argue a particular and precise theory about one or two texts we have studied this term. The paper should make new contributions to on-going scholarships and provide the basis for a publishable article. In order to receive an A this paper needs to be of such innovation, quality, and depth that it could, with some revisions and additions, be published in a refereed journal.
Special Needs:
Students with disabilities should contact the Center for Student Academic Support to self-identify their needs in order to facilitate their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Center is located in Holmes Student Center Room 59. All students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with and take advantage of services provided by the Center for Student Academic Support such as tutoring, academic counseling, and developing study skills. The Center provides confidential consultations to any student with academic concerns as well as to students with disabilities.
Plagiarism and Academic Integrity:
I expect all students in this class to adhere to the standards of academic integrity as defined in the University of Tulsa’s Student Handbook. If I find any evidence that a student has cheated on an examination or plagiarized a paper, I will fail the particular assignment immediately. I will then forward the case to my department Chair and college Dean for further disciplinary action. Most likely I will give the student a failing grade for the semester and recommend suspension from the university.
The handbook of the Modern Language Association defines plagiarism as follows: “Derived from the Latin word plagiarus (“kidnapper”), plagiarism refers to a form of cheating that has been defined as the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and presenting it as one’s own (Alexander Lindey, Plagiarism and Originality [New York: Harper, 1952]2). To use another person’s ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarize” (Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook, 4th ed., [New York: MLA, 1995]26).
It often is difficult to determine where the line is between being influenced by a text or person, and taking words or ideas from that text or person. Confusion can arise easily when one is doing extensive research or collaborating with other people. If you have any questions about whether or not you should give credit to a source in your work, I suggest that you always cite that source to be safe. Please also see me if you are uncertain about whether or how to cite a course, or consult the Modern Language Association Handbook.
Office Hours, and Contacting Me:
I will be available to meet with students from 11 to 12 on Tuesdays and Thursays, and with graduate students only from 5 to 6 on Wednesdays. If my office hours conflict with your schedule I will be happy to make an appointment with you at another time.
The best way to contact me outside of office hours is through email, which I try to check daily. My email address is laura-stevens@utulsa.edu. My mailbox is in the main office of the English department, 365 Zink Hall. You may also leave me voice mail or call my office at 631-2859, but if you are calling me over a holiday keep in mind that these messages will be erased automatically after 3 days.
Course Texts:
William Hill Brown, The
Power of Sympathy, and Hannah Webster
Foster, The Coquette,
ed,
Mulford (Viking Penguin)
Daniel Defoe, The Strange
and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Norton)
Olaudah Equiano, The
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (Beford)
Paul Gilles, Transatlantic
Insurrections (Penn)
Jehlen
and Warner, eds. English Literatures of America (Routledge)
Samuel Richardson, Pamela,
Or, Virtue Rewarded, ed. Sabor
(Penguin)
Unca Eliza Winkfield, The
Female American, ed. Michelle Burnham
(Broadview)
1/16 Introduction
In Class: read Andrew Marvell, “Bermudas,” (J & W, 544-45)
Milton, from Paradise Lost, J&W, 579-80
Alexander Pope, from “Windsor Forest,” 1034-35
1/23 Europe Imagining America:
Jehlen
and Warner: General Introduction, xvii-xxiii
“The Expansion of
Europe,” 3-6
Columbus,
“letter to the King and Queen of Castile,” 11-17
Amerigo
Vespucci, “letter to Pier Soderini,” 17-28
“Nahuatl Accounts of the Spanish conquest,” 30-35
Jehlen
and Warner: “Learning to Say ‘America’ in English,” 39-41
“The
Great Chronicle of London,” 42
“The
first Printed Account of America in English,” 43-44
Thomas
More, Utopia, 44-46
Thomas
Hariot, A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia,
J&W, 64-89
Richard Ligon, A True and Exact history of the Island of Barbados, 201-18
Secondary Reading: Pagden, introduction to European Encounters (hand-out)
Karen Ordahl Kupperman, from Indians & English: Facing off in Early America
1/24 Please feel welcome to join my undergraduate class on Travel Writing and the early
novel at 2:00 for a class in the McFarlin Library North Lab, Plaza level, on doing
research in 17th and 18th century literature.
1/30 The Legacy of Puritanism:
“Seventeenth-Century
America: The Trials of Puritanism,” J&W, 429-33
John
Winthrop, journal excerpts, 308-14
“A Modell of Christian
Charity,” J&W, 151-59
Samuel
Danforth, “A Brief Recognition of New-England’s Errand into the
Wilderness,” J&W, 461-74
Anne
Bradstreet, “To my Dear Children,” 322-25
Edward
Taylor, Sacramental Meditations, first series, 581-85
Secondary
Reading: Perry Miller, “Errand Into the Wilderness,” hand-out
Philip
Round, By Nature and By Custom Cursed, selections
2/6 Bacon’s Rebellion:
War in the Transatlantic arena
Nathanial
Bacon, Manifesto, 1676, in J&W, 224-27
Robert
Beverly, from History and Present State of Virginia, in J&W, 227-33
Aphra Behn, The Widow Ranter in J&W, 233-292
Secondary Reading: Michael Warner, “What’s Colonial about Colonial America?”
2/13 Converting the Other
Thomas
Shepard, “A Visit to John Eliot’s Indian Mission,” J&W,
316-7
John
Eliot, “Indians and imps,” J&W, 318-9
Roger
Williams, A Key into the Language of America, J&W, 494-97
David
Brainerd, Journal, J&W, 639-42
Samson Occom, A Sermon, J&W, 643-58
Secondary Reading: Laura J. Murray, “What did Christianity do for Joseph Johnson?”
Other readings, tba.
2/20 Castaways in America, Part I
Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
Contexts, in Crusoe edition, pp. 227-37
Secondary Reading: Maximillian E. Novak, “Robinson Crusoe and the State of Nature”
2/21 Please feel welcome to join my undergraduate class on Travel Writing and the early
novel at 2:00 for a class in the McFarlin Library Special Collections on resources in 17th
and 18th century literature in Special Collections
2/27 Castaways in America, Part II
Winkfield, The Female American
Secondary Reading: J. Paul Hunter, “The ‘Occasion’ of Robinson Crusoe”
Book Review due
3/6 Captivity and the
Sentimental Novel:
Rowlandson, The Soveraignty and Goodness of God
Richardon, Pamela, pp. 1-65
Secondary Reading: Armstrong and Tennenhouse, photocopy
3/13 Spring Break, no classes
3/20 Richardson, Pamela
Secondary Reading: Burnham, photocopy
3/27 Writing and Revolution
Thomas
Pownall, The Administration of the Colonies of America, J&W, 836
Samuel
Johnson, Taxation no Tyrrany,
J&W, 849
Edmund
Burke, Speech of Edmund Burke,
J&W, 85-51
Thomas
Jefferson, A Declaration, J&W,
858-62
Thomas
Paine, The American Crisis,
J&W, 868-73
James Madison, The Federalist, #10, J&W, 885-90
“The Indian Burying Ground,” J&W, 1107
Abigail
Adams, letter to John Adams, J&W, 852-3
Thomas Paine, “An Occasional Letter on the Female Sex,” J&W, 865-7
Secondary Reading, Jay Fliegelman
Prospectus/conference abstract due
4/3 Slavery and Sympathy
Samuel Sewall, The Selling of Joseph, J&W, 817-20
Anonymous,
from “Jamaica,” 1087
The
Rector of St. John’s, Nevis, “The Field Negroe,” 1088
Sarah Wentworth Morton, “The African Chief,” 1102
Olaudah
Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
Secondary reading: Dana D. Nelson, “Consolidating National Masculinity”
Also article from 18c studies on Equiano
4/10 Brown, The Power of Sympathy
Secondary Reading: John Mullan, “Sentimental Novels”
4/17 Conference Presentations, McFarlin Library Faculty
Study
4/24 Foster, The Coquette
Secondary Reading: David Shields, “The Promise of Civil Discourse”
You final paper is due on Monday, April 29, at 4:00 p.m.
Website on Resources in Eighteenth-Century Studies:
http://newark.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/18th/