Reiner Smolinski
Georgia State University

EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE

RATIONALE:

In this seminar, we will investigate a number of literary and historiographical paradigms in early American literature and culture to test the ideological assumptions behind America's self-invention and self-construction.  The old chestnut that the Puritans came to the New World and first fell upon their knees and then upon the Indians is as much a part of America's mythic history as that other chestnut that they came to America to set up their "Cittie upon a Hill."  Such paradigms are by now so widely accepted that few bother to examine the original texts which supposedly proliferate this ideology.  The issues covered here include the New World as New Jerusalem, Settler-Native American relationships, the jeremiad, Salem witchcraft, the Great Awakening, the rhetoric of the Revolution, African-American and Native American autobiography, and women's writing.

TEXTS:

(1) William Apess, A SON OF THE FOREST & OTHER WRITINGS (1829). Ed. by
        Barry O'Connell. Amherst: U of Mass P, 1997
(2) Lydia Maria Child, HOBOMOCK (1824). Ed. by Carolyn L. Karcher. New
        Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1986
(3) Oldaudah Equiano, AN INTERESTING NARRATIVE AND OTHER WRITINGS. Ed. by
        Vincent Carretta. New York: Penguin, 1995
(4) Kathryn Zabelle Derounian-Stodola, ed., WOMEN'S INDIAN CAPTIVITY
        NARRATIVES. New York: Penguin, 1998
(5) Reiner Smolinski, ed. THE KINGDOM, THE POWER & THE GLORY: THE
        MILLENNIAL IMPULSE IN EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE. Dubuque:
        Kendall/Hunt Publishing Co., 1998.

ASSIGNMENTS:

        (1) Each member is responsible to lead the discussion on ONE
            selection from the primary works.
        (2) Each member will present a book review (4 pp single-spaced,
            max.) on a designated secondary work listed in the
            bibliography. Please provide a copy of your review to each
            member of the seminar.
        (3) Mid-term (taken-home)
        (4) Research papers (c. 20-25 pp.) Please see me in person to
            discuss your topic.

GRADING:

        Book review:     10%
        Mid-term:          30%
        Research Paper: 50%
        Participation:      10%

READING ASSIGNMENTS:

8/24                  Intro to the period, research opportunities, job prospects
8/26                TOPIC: Y2K AND EARLY AMERICAN LITERATURE: "General
                         Introduction" in KINGDOM
8/31                 TOPIC: 16th- & 17th-C. COSMOLOGIES: George Herbert, "The Church
                         Militant"; Joseph Mede, "The Key of the Revelation" George Mourt(on), "Mort's
                         Relation," in KINGDOM
9/1                  TOPIC: ERRAND REVISITED: John Cotton, "Gods Promise to His
                         Plantation"; Michael Wigglesworth, "God's Controversy," in KINGDOM
9/7, 8              TOPIC: EARLY JEREMIADS: S. Danforth, "Brief Recognition"; Cotton
                         Mather, Theopolis Americana" and "Nehemias Americana," in KINGDOM
9/14, 16          TOPIC: SALEM WITCHCRAFT: Cotton Mather, "Wonders of the Invisible
                         World," in KINGDOM
9/21,23,28,30   TOPIC: WOMEN'S CAPTIVITY NARRATIVES: Rowlandson, Dustan,
                         Hanson, Kinney, Jemison, Godfrey, Wakefield, in WOMEN'S
10/5, 7            TOPIC: RHETORIC OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION: Oliver Noble,
                          "Some Strictures"; Samuel Sherwood, "Church's Flight"; Nicholas Street,
                          "American States," all in KINGDOM

                (Mid-term distributed on 10/5)

10/12              TOPIC: POETRY OF THE REVOLUTION: Frenau, "Rising Glory," "American
                         Village," in KINGDOM

                (Mid-term due, in class)

10/14                 Cont. Barlow, "Prospect of Peace," "Conspiracy of Kings,"  in KINGDOM
10/19, 21           Cont. Dwight, "America," and all of "Greenfield Hill,"  in KINGDOM
10/26, 28           Cont. Humphreys, "Happiness," "Future Glory," in KINGDOM
11/2,4,9,11        TOPIC: SLAVE NARRATIVE/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Equiano,
                         NARRATIVE
11/16,18,23       TOPIC: NATIVE AMERICAN/AUTOBIOGRAPHY: Apess, SON
11/25                 THANKSGIVING (Thank God!)
11/30; 12/2,7     TOPIC: WOMEN AND EARLY AMERICAN NOVEL: Child,
                          HOBOMOCK
12/13                 RESEARCH PAPER DUE