Stephen Arch
Michigan State UniversitySeminar in American Literature to 1900: The Early American Novel
[Comment by Steve Arch: The edition that I had students prepare was an excellent assignment. It forced us to discuss the entire process of editing, from the selection or solicitation of texts to questions about production and design and marketing. It forced students to write an introduction geared for a specific audience (each student designated his/her target audience), and adapt editorial methods for that audience. It allowed us always, in our reading, to raise questions about the design, production, and usefulness of the editions we had in hand. This is an assignment that I will use again in Ph.D. courses!]
Texts: CB Brown, Wieland,
Edgar Huntly,
Arthur Mervyn
Tabitha Tenney, Female Quixotism
Rebecca Rush, Kelroy
James Fenimore Cooper, The Spy
Hannah Foster, The Coquette
Royall Tyler, The Algerine Captive
Judith Sargent Murray, The Story of Margaretta*
William Hill Brown, The Power of Sympathy*
Hugh Henry Brackenridge, Modern Chivalry
Cathy Davidson, Revolution and the Word*These two titles are available from the instructor.
Schedule:
Jan. 8 introduction
13 William Hill Brown, The Power of Sympathy
15 oral report #1
20 Judith Sargent Murray, The Story of Margeretta
22 Brown and Murray (continued)
27 Hannah Foster, The Coquette
29 oral report #2Feb 3 Royall Tyler, The Algerine Captive
5 Foster and Tyler (continued)
10 HH Brackenridge, Modern Chivalry
12 continued
17 Cathy Davidson, Revolution and the Word
19 continued
24 research/conferences
26 research/conferencesMar 3 spring break
5 spring break
10 Brown, Wieland * "edition" due
12 continued
17 Brown, Arthur Mervyn
19 continued
24 Brown, Edgar Huntly
26 continued
31 Rebecca Rush, KelroyApr 2 continued
7 research/conferences
9 research/conferences
14 Tabitha Tenney, Female Quixotism
16 continued
21 James Fenimore Cooper, The Spy
23 continued. Brief oral version of critical essay.
30 * critical/research essay dueAssignments:
a) 2 short oral reports, both due in January
b) 1 "edition" of an early American novel, unpublished in the twentieth century. I've listed some
suggestions below, but see also Davidson's Revolution and the Word, which will suggest
others. The edition should include an introduction, contextualizing the author and the novel; a
note on the text, detailing previous editions and discussing yourls; and a bibliography, listing
relevant scholarship and criticism on that novel, on that author, and on related topics.Ann Eliza Bleeker, The History of Maria Kittle or The Story of Henry and Anne, both in
Posthumous Works
Isaac Mitchell, Alonzo and Melissa
John Neal, Keep Cool
S.S.B.K. Wood, Julia, and the illuminated Baron
Enos Hitchcock, Memoirs of the Bloomsgrove Family
[William Hayley?], Amelia; or, The Faithless Briton
Susanna Rowson, Reuben and Rachel
Mrs. Patterson, The Unfortunate Lovers
[?], The History of Constantius and Pulchera, or Constancy Rewarded
James Butler, Fortune's Football; or, The Adventures of Mercutioc) 1 research/critical essay, approximately twenty pages in length, original in scope and design.
(The introduction to your edition might serve as a beginning here, though the research essay
will argue on a different level of complexity than will the introduction.)d) in-class participation