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Welcome to Litteraria:
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POWERED BY
Year Two, full-time program
University of Silesia
Fall Semester

American Literary Landscape in the 19th Century
MODULE CONVERSATORIUM
Paweł Jędrzejko






NAVIGATION
Title of the subject: American Literary Landscape in the 19th Century
(An American Literary History Module)
Groups: A and B
Program: 3+2
Type of program: full-time, B.A. (first-level)
Form of instruction: conversatorium
Hours of instruction: 90 mins/week
Semester: 3
ECTS Credits: ?

General description: The hereby presented course focuses upon America's literary scene in the 19th century with particular focus on phenomena contributing to the emergence of what Francis Otto Matthiessen dubbed "American Renaissance." The conversatorium, being a part of the American Literature Module, is dedicated primarily to the discussion upon selected works of writers, poets and philosophers whose work became instrumental to the development of the canon of American literature. The literary phenomena discussed within the frame of the course, however, are studied against the background of a broader context of American intellectual, political and material culture, thus helping the student understand the complexity of the processes related to identity-formation, the development of American metanarratives, as well as  building his perceptions of culture as a multifaceted process, in which all elements are dynamically interrelated and cannot be studied in isolation.

Formula of Final Testing: examination (on completion of two modules)

    Course objectives

    • To allow students to become acquainted in detail with the most important canonical works of American 19th century literature;

    • To involve students in active debate on issues through which literary texts are anchored in the history of culture

    • To involve students in small-scale individual research;

    • To produce reliable materials for introductory study of selected authors' work;

    • To publish the outcome of student's work in the Internet.

    Credit requirements

    •  Active participation in class debates accounts for 50% of the credit

    • Active participation in research (including the presentations of the work in progress and the final publication of the outcomes of the team work) accounts for 50% of the credit

    Class contents

1. A Welcome Class

A technical class dedicated to the assumptions of the course, credit requirements, meeting times, admissible absence policy and anti-plagiarism policy in the Institute of English Literatures and Cultures.

2. Doing Individual Research in American Literature

The goal of the second meeting is the discussion concerning the pedagogical goals of the involvement of students in individual research and to some of the technical aspects of research techniques, including:

- The importance of easy-access media
- The structure of a Wikipedia entry
- The importance of the production of reliable materials
a) Learning by doing
b) Tangible and verifiable results of one's work
c) Responsibility of the researcher in the light of the availability of the publication
d) Research and hermeneutic circle

Other issues raised in class respect recommended precautions in the course of Internet-based research, including:
a) Trusting texts whose authorship is verifiable;
b) Follow-up research on the author(s) of the texts found on the World Wide Web;
c) Trusting texts published on university-legitimized websites;
d) Seeking access to full-text online journals through the libraries of the University
of Silesia;
e) Using online databases.
HOMEWORK

1) Assigned reading: James Fenimore Cooper: The Pioneers (due at meeting four)
2) Study the structure of a Wikipedia entry (source and result page) 3) Individual assignments to be presented in class:

3. How Not to Get Lost in the Library

The goal of the third meeting is to acquaint the students with the principles of library research and with the library collections. Depending on the availability of librarians at the time of the class, the meeting will either take place in the Neophilological Reading Room at ul. Żytnia 10 or in our regular classroom. The issues raised will include

- The use of databases available at the libraries of the University of Silesia
- The use of full-text journals available at the libraries of the University of Silesia
- Traditional journals, to which our libraries subscribe
- Collections related to 19th century American literary culture
Other issues raised in class will be based on the presentation of individual assignments:
a) Principles of Boolean search
b) Structure of a Wikipedia entry
d) Editing Wikipedia
NOTE: During the meeting, students will distribute research tasks among themselves and will present a list to the tutor.

HOMEWORK

1) Assigned reading: James Fenimore Cooper: The Pioneers
2) Assigned reading: Frederick Jackson Turner: The Frontier in American History
3) Begin to read: Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter (due at meeting six)


4. On Cooper's "Descriptive History"

The goal of the fourth meeting is to involve students in the debate concerning the following issues:

- What is Cooper's concept of history?
- In what way is history different from historiography?
- How is history narrated in Cooper's text?
- How can history be romanticized?

Students will be expected to produce and interpret relevant passages from The Pioneers in the course of the classroom debate and to back their arguments up with knowledge derived both from their background reading (see: recommended literature at the end of this section), from other classes dedicated to literary theory.
HOMEWORK

1) Assigned reading: Paweł Jędrzejko, "Obrazy z ekfrazy" in: Dwudziestowieczna ikonosfera w literaturach europejskich. Wizualizacja w literaturze. Bożena Tokarz, ed. (Katowice: Wydawnictwo ŚLĄSK, 2002), pp. 26-40
2) Assigned reading: PaweÅ‚ JÄ™drzejko, „Limes Culturae, czyli kilka uwag o Cooperowskiej ‘historii opisowej’ pogranicza,” in: Wielkie tematy literatury amerykaÅ„skiej. T. 2: Granica, pogranicze, Zachód. Teresa Pyzik, Krzysztof Kowalczyk-Twarowski, eds. (Katowice: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu ÅšlÄ…skiego, 2004)
3) Continue reading: Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
4) Begin to read: Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays (due at meeting nine)
5) Begin to read: Herman Melville: Moby-Dick (due at meeting ten)
6) Recommended reading: Paweł Jędrzejko, Melville w kontekstach
7) Recommended reading: Paweł Jędrzejko, Płynność i egzystencja


5. Chingachgook/Indian John. On Crossing the Frontier

Issues raised in the fifth meeting will include:

- How are Native Americans (re)presented in Cooper's novel? How were they presented in the Colonial Period? What is the difference, if any? How do you support your arguments?
- What is the difference between Chingachgook and the Great Serpent? What is the difference between the Great Serpent and John the Mohegan? What is the difference between John the Mohegan and Indian John?
- What are the parallels between Judge Temple and Chingachgook?
- What is the difference between Nathaniel Bumppo and Natty Bumppo? What is the difference between Natty Bumppo and Leatherstocking? What is the difference between Leatherstocking and Hawkeye?
- Who does Miss Temple marry? Why?

Students will be expected to have read the texts assigned for the class. They will be asked to work in small groups to produce and interpret relevant passages from The Pioneers in the course of the classroom debate. Their arguments need to rely upon knowledge from demonstrable sources.
HOMEWORK

1) Assigned reading: Nathaniel Hawthorne: The Scarlet Letter
2) Watch: The Scarlet Letter (1934)
3) Study the following set of cover art images for The Scarlet Letter
4) Begin reading: Henry David Thoreau: Walden (due at meeting nine)
5) Continue reading: Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays (due at meeting nine)
6) Continue reading: Herman Melville: Moby-Dick (due at meeting ten)
7) Recommended reading: Jacques Derrida "That Dangerous Supplement," in: Acts of Literature (New York, London: Routledge, 1992), pp. 76-109
8) Recommended reading: Jim Powell, Derrida for Beginners


6. The Scarlet Letter  (- with its Dangerous Introduction)

Issues raised in the this meeting will include:

- What is the difference between Coopers' idea of history and that presented by Nathaniel Hawthorne?
- How does the chapter "The Customs House" function in the context of the whole novel? In what way does it contribute to the narrative? In what way does it contribute to the reading of the novel as a metacommentary?
- What is the relationship between ethics and history?
- What are the relationships between (auto)biography and fiction?
- Why is "The Customs House Students" "dangerous"

Students will be expected to have read the texts assigned for the class. They will be asked to produce and interpret relevant passages from The Scarlet Letter in the course of the classroom debate. Their arguments need to rely upon knowledge from demonstrable sources (including the writer's biography, critical texts concerning the novel and theoretical texts raising the issues of biography/life writing/autobiography available in the library and on the World Wide Web)
HOMEWORK

1) Assigned reading: Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays (due at meeting nine)
2) Continue reading: Herman Melville: Moby-Dick (due at meeting ten)
3) Refresh your memory: what are the meanings of the word "pearl"? (Hint: "Think of Old English poetry)
3) EACH TEAM PREPARES A 10-MINUTE MINILECTURE ON WORK IN PROGRESS

7. The Scarlet Letter: Narrative and Ethics

Issues raised in the this meeting will include:

- How does the letter "A" function in the context of the narrative?
- In what way the interpretation of the letter contribute to the interpretation of the whole of the narrative?
- What narrative and rhetorical devices have been employed in the novel to emphasize the relationships between characters? How are the characters drawn? How may their names prove important?
- What elements of Gothicism have been employed in the novel? To what effect?
- Why does Hester Prynne never reject the scarlet letter? Why does she return to America?
- Why is "The Customs House Students" "dangerous"

Students will be expected to have read the texts assigned for the class. They will be asked to produce and interpret relevant passages from The Scarlet Letter in the course of the classroom debate. Their arguments need to rely upon knowledge from demonstrable sources (including the writer's biography, critical texts concerning the novel and theoretical texts raising the issues of biography/life writing/autobiography available in the library and on the World Wide Web)
HOMEWORK

1) Assigned reading: Ralph Waldo Emerson: "Nature" (due at meeting nine)
2) Begin reading: Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass
3) Continue reading: Henry David Thoreau: Walden (due at meeting nine)
4) Continue reading: Herman Melville: Moby-Dick (due at meeting ten)
5) EACH TEAM GETS READY FOR A 10-MINUTE MINILECTURE ON WORK IN PROGRESS:
if multimedia should be needed, team leaders need to make necessary arrangements with Mr. Andrzej Nowak.

8. WORK IN PROGRESS: TEAM PRESENTATIONS

In the meeting, individual research teams will be expected to present ten minute's long lectures on their work in progress. The quality of the presentation will account for 25% of the credit for the module.

HOMEWORK

1) Assigned reading: Ralph Waldo Emerson: Essays (all series)
2) Assigned reading: Henry David Thoreau: Walden
2) Assigned reading: Walt Whitman: Leaves of Grass
3) Continue reading: Herman Melville: Moby-Dick (due at meeting ten)

9. Emerson,Thoreau, Whitman: Faces of Transcendentalism

Issues raised in the this meeting will include:

- What is Transcendentalism?
- In what sense do the writings of the authors discussed represent their unique transcendentalist visions?
- Explain the sense of the Transcendentalist concepts of:
a) Pantheism,
b) Oversoul,
c) Reason,
d) Understanding
- What is the difference between "reason" as understood by the thinkers of the Enlightenment and "reason" as understood by Transcendentalists?
- In what way does Transcendentalism represent Romantic mindframe? In what way is Transcendentalism a response to the dominance of former intellectualformations in America?
Students will be expected to be well acquainted with all the texts assigned for the class. They will be asked to be able to compare and contrast the philosophical visions and rhetorical means Emerson and Thoreau employed in their texts.
HOMEWORK

1) Assigned reading: Herman Melville: Moby-Dick

10. Moby-Dick: Text and Metatext

Basic issues raised in the this meeting will include:

- How do introductory chapters of Moby-Dick ("Etymology" and "Extracts") contribute to the narrative of the novel?
- In what way can the structure of the novel be explained in the light of the introductory chapters?
- Who are the novel's central characters?
- In what sense the names of the characters may prove significant in the context of the interpretation of the novel?
- How do you understand the concept of "the ungraspable phantom of life" in the context of the story of Narcissus?

More specifically, in class, we will also refresh our memories and address the possible senses of the famous sentence Hawthorne wrote about Melville: "Melville [...] can neither believe, nor be comfortable in his unbelief, and he is too honest and courageous not to try to do one or the other.[...]" Further questions we will try to address include:

  • In what sense Melville's biography may be trusted in the context of reading his texts? What is a biography? What is autobiography?
  • How does Calvinism relate to Romantic Weltanschauung? To Enlightenment?
  • What is a "metanarrative"?
  • In what way is religion related to language?
  • In what sense are religions "therapeutical"?
  • How is religion related to philosophy? To the shape of the world as we know it?
  • What is "theodicy"?
  • Why would he confess to Hawthorne that he has "written an evil book" and nonetheless feels "spotless as the lamb"?
  • How important is language for Melville?
- Try to honestly answers the question of how you read books. Do you always read introductions and prefaces? Why? Why not?
- Read the initial chapters of Moby-Dick: "Etymology" and "Extracts." Try to offer an interpretation of these chapters.
- Try to find answers to the following questions:
  • Where does Queequeg come from?
  • What do his tattoos signify in the interpretation of Ishmael-the narrator?
  • Why would Queequeg "copy" his tattoos upon the coffin he has the carpenter make for himself?
  • How does the survival of Ishmael depend on the coffin, upon which Queequeg has "transcribed himself"?
  • What are its consequences?
Students will be expected to be well acquainted with all the texts assigned for the class. They will be asked to be able to compare and contrast the philosophy of the Transcendentalists discussed in previous classes and Melville's existentialism.

HOMEWORK

1) TEAMS GET READY FOR THE FINAL PRESENTATION OF THEIR WORK
2) Revise your knowledge of Moby-Dick through questons raised in course materials for the Melville seminar (click here)

11. Melville's Existentialism: Between Romanticism and  Modernity

Issues raised in the this meeting will include:
- The narrative relationship between Ahab and Ishmael
- The possible interpretation of he following chapters of Moby-Dick:
  • Chapter 32 "Cetology"
  • Chapter 36 "The Quarter Deck"
  • Chapter 42 "The Whiteness of the Whale"
  • Chapter 55 "Of the Monstrous Pictures of whales"
  • Chapter 99 "The Doubloon"
- The status of Moby-Dick as a open text
- Herman Melville as a 19th century writer

Students will be expected to be well acquainted with all the texts assigned for the class. They will be asked to be able to compare and contrast the philosophy of the Transcendentalists discussed in previous classes and Melville's existentialism .
HOMEWORK

1) TEAMS GET READY FOR THE FINAL PRESENTATION OF THEIR WORK

12. FINAL PRESENTATIONS OF RESEARCH

In the meeting, individual research teams will be expected to present ten minute's long lectures on their work and the printouts of the the Wikipedia entries prepared. The quality of the presentation will account for the remaining 25% of the credit for the module. Credit books will be signed.

Mandatory reading