English 366 Topics in American Literature: AMERICAN BEST SELLERS Syllabus

Schedule of Readings
In addition to the readings specified below, we will also watch a selection of film adaptations of these works outside of class.  Days and times will be announced on the official course syllabus distributed at the first lecture.

Precepts will meet during the first full week of classes (9/18-9/22).

1. Sept. 18
Michael Wigglesworth, selections from The Day of Doom (distributed in lecture)
Jane Tompkins, "The Cultural Work of American Fiction" (distributed in lecture)

2. Sept. 25
Susanna Rowson, Charlotte Temple
Cathy Davidson, "The Life and Times of Charlotte Temple" (packet; also available on electronic reserve [p/r] -- password information will be distributed at the first lecture)

3. Oct. 2
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin
Philip Fisher, from Hard Facts: Setting and Form in the American Novel (p/r)

4. Oct. 9
Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Stephen Mailloux, "Cultural Rhetoric Studies: Eating Books in Nineteenth-Century America" (p/r)

5. Oct. 16
Horatio Alger, Ragged Dick
Christine Bold, "Popular Forms I" (p/r)

6. Oct. 23
Zane Grey, Riders of the Purple Sage
Jane Tompkins, "Women and the Language of Men" (p/r)

BREAK

7. Nov. 6
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes
John Cawelti, "The Concept of Formula in the Study of Popular Literature" (p/r)

8. Nov. 13
Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence
William Trollinger and Carl Kaestle, "Highbrow and Middlebrow Magazines in 1920" (p/r)

9. Nov. 20
Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind
Jane Tompkins, "All Alone, Little Lady?" (p/r)

(Thanksgiving Break)

10. Nov. 27
Margaret Mitchell, Gone With the Wind
Jayne Ann Krentz, "Trying to Tame the Romance: Critics and Correctness" (p/r)

11. Dec. 4
Raymond Chandler, Farewell, My Lovely
Chandler, "The Simple Art of Murder" (p/r)

12. Dec. 11
TBD
 

There will be a final examination in January. Time TBA.
 

Course Notes
• precept sign-ups will take place during the first lecture on 9/18
• precept assignments will be posted outside McCosh 22 by noon on 9/19
• all precept changes must be made through Marcia Rosh in 22 McCosh Hall
• primary texts are available for purchase at Micawber Books (Nassau St.)
• the course packet is available for purchase at Triangle copy store (Nassau St.)
• packet readings are also available on-line via Firestone electronic course reserve
(password information will be distributed at the first lecture)
 

Grading
• class participation    25%
• papers                      50%
• final exam                25%
 

Last updated 09/17/00.

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