ENG 562 American Lit. after 1865

This course examines the origin and development of American literary tradition from the end of the Civil War to the present. A range of literary texts of different genres will be studied to familiarize students with major trends and movements (Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, post-Modernism) and representative writers. The cultural, historical, social, religious, and political forces that have shaped the literature of this period will also be explored.

Weekly Syllabus

 

Week	Topic
1	Read all the Introduction sections of each Volume along with the followings: Realism and Naturalism 955 Volume C. William Dean Howells: From Editor’s Study 956 Henry James: From The Art of Fiction 961 Hamlin Garland: From Local Color in Art 963 William Roscoe Thayer: From The New Story- Tellers and the Doom of Realism 965 Frank Norris: A Plea for Romantic Fiction 968 Jack London: From What Life Means to Me 971 Charlotte Perkins Gilman: From Masculine Literature 974 Modernist Manifestos 315 Volume D F. t. Marinetti: From Manifesto of Futurism 316 Mina Loy: Feminist Manifesto 318 Ezra Pound: From A Retrospect 321 Willa Cather: From The Novel Démeublé 324 William Carlos Williams: From Spring and All 326 Langston Hughes: From The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain 328 Postmodern Manifestos 369 Volume E RONALD SUKENICK: Innovative Fiction / Innovative Criteria 370 WILLIAM H. GASS: The Medium of Fiction 372 CHARLES OLSON: From Projective Verse 376 FRANK O’HARA: From Personism: A Manifesto 378 RICHARD FOREMAN: From Ontological- Hysteric Manifesto I 380 CHARLES LUDLAM: Ridicu lous Theater, Scourge of Human Folly 381 A. R. AMMONS: From A Poem Is a Walk 382 AUDRE LORDE: From Poetry Is Not a Luxury 385
2 1st  Précis is Due on LMS	Realism and Regionalism: Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens): Adventures of Huckleberry Finn CRITICAL CONTROVERSY: RACE AND THE ENDING OF ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN 303 Leo Marx: From Mr. Eliot, Mr. Trilling, and Huckleberry Finn 304 Julius lester: From Morality and Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 307 David l. Smith: From Huck, Jim, and American Racial Discourse 308 Jane Smiley: From Say It Ain’t So, Huck: Second Thoughts on Mark Twain’s “Masterpiece” 311 Toni Morrison: From Introduction to Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 312 ALAN Gribben: From Introduction to the NewSouth Edition 314 Michiko Kakutani: Light Out, Huck, They Still Want to Sivilize You 316
3	Henry Adams (1838–1918) 362 The Education of Henry Adams 364 Chapter XXV. The Dynamo and the Virgin 364 Constance Fenimore Woolson (1840–1894) 373 Rodman the Keeper 374 Ambrose Bierce (1842– c. 1914) 394 An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge 395 Chickamauga 401 Henry James (1843–1916) 406 Daisy Miller: A Study 410 The Real Thing 450 The Beast in the Jungle 467
4	National Day
5 2nd Précis is due on LMS	Sarah Orne Jewett (1849–1909) 515 A White Heron 516 Kate Chopin (1850–1904) 537 The Awakening 548
6	Voices from Native America 660: Oratory Smohalla: Comments to Major MacMurray 661 Charlot: [He has fi lled graves with our bones] 664 CHIEF joseph: From An Indian’s Views of Indian Affairs 667 Narrative Francis LaFlesche: From The Middle Five 670 Zitkala SA: Iktomi and the Fawn 675 The Ghost Dance Songs and the Wounded Knee Massacre 680 [Flat Pipe is telling me] 681 [ Father, have pity on me] 681 [The Crow Woman] 681 Nicholas Black Elk and John G. Neihardt: From Black Elk Speaks 682 Charles Alexander Eastman: From From the Deep Woods to Civilization 687 JosÉ MartÍ (1853–1895) 691 Our America 692 Booker T. Washington (1856–1915) 699 Up from Slavery 701 Chapter I. A Slave among Slaves 701 Chapter II. Boyhood Days 709 Chapter XIV. The Atlanta Exposition Address 716 Charles W. Chesnutt (1858–1932) 724 “The Goophered Grapevine” 726 Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins (1859–1930) 761 Talma Gordon 762 W. E. B. Du Bois (1868–1963) 918 The Souls of Black Folk 920 From The Forethought 920 III. Of Mr. Booker T. Washington and Others 927
7	Hamlin Garland (1860–1940) 774 Under the Lion’s Paw 775 Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1860–1935) 842 The Yellow Wall- paper 844 Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”? 856 Edith Wharton (1862–1937) 857 The Other Two 859 Ida B. Wells- Barnett (1862–1931) 881 From Mob Rule in New Orleans 883
8 3rd Précis is due on LMS	Naturalism: Frank Norris (1870–1902) 976 A Deal in Wheat 977 Stephen Crane (1871–1900) 1002 Maggie: A Girl of the Streets 1004 Jack London (1876–1916) 1107 The Law of Life 1108 To Build a Fire 1113
9	Modernism: Eugene O’Neill (1888– 1953) : The Hairy Ape Tennessee Williams (1911–1983) 73 A Streetcar Named Desire 76
10 4thPrécis is due on LMS	William Faulkner (1897– 1962) 666 As I Lay Dying 669 Ernest Hemingway (1899– 1961) 795 The Old Man and The Sea
11	Gertrude Stein (1874– 1946) 184 : Selections from her poems From The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas 214 Robert Frost (1874– 1963) 218: Selections from his poems Wallace Stevens (1879– 1955): Selections from his poems William Carlos Williams (1883– 1963): Selections from his poems Ezra Pound (1885– 1972): Selections from his poems H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) (1886– 1961): Selections from her poems Marianne Moore (1887– 1972): Selections from her poems T. S. Eliot (1888– 1965): Selections from his poems Langston Hughes (1902– 1967) : Selections from his poems
12	Rabih Alameddine: The Hakawati
13 Annotated Bib is due on LMS	Postmodernism: Toni Morrison (b. 1931- 2019 ) 605 Beloved ( 1987)
14	James Baldwin (1924–1987) 391  Going to Meet the Man  392 Flannery O’Connor (1925–1964) 426 The Life You Save May Be Your Own  427 Sylvia Plath (1932–1963) 620 : Selections from her poems John Updike (1932–2009) 632 Separating  634 Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) (1934–2014) 666 Selections from his poems August Wilson (1945–2005) 919 Fences  921 Li- Young Lee (b. 1957) 1122 Selections from his poems
15 Final paper is due on LMS	Presentations of your final papers.