American Literature

1. Critically discuss American Literature as a national literature.
2. Identify the roots of American Literature beyond the geographical reach of the country.
3. Explain the major socio-political developments that have shaped American literature.
4. Demonstrate mastery of various forms of American literary works.
5. Discuss the major trends of American literature.
6. Demonstrate familiarity with important authors and their periods.
7. Explicate American texts both in discussion and in writing.

13 weeks, about 41 hours in total. Yours will differ.

1. Week 1Module 1 Colonial Literature: 17th century to 1830

   • Unit 1: History of American in the Colonial Period · 2 hours

     Read the introduction to understand the course objectives and requirements.. Study the historical context of the colonial period in America.. Identify the factors that influenced the establishment of America..

2. Week 2Module 1 Colonial Literature: 17th century to 1830

   • Unit 2: Literature of the Colonial Period · 2 hours

     Identify the popular literary forms of the colonial period.. Explore the writings of early explorers and adventurers.. Understand the influence of Puritan beliefs on colonial literature..

3. Week 3Module 1 Colonial Literature: 17th century to 1830

   • Unit 3: A Survey of Writers During the Colonial Period · 4 hours

     Study the selected writers and writings of the colonial period.. Examine the fundamental issues the writers engage.. Analyze the forms their writings took and the themes they explored..

4. Week 4Module 2 AMERICAN RENAISSANCE: THE LITERATURE OF REASON AND REVOLUTION

   • Unit 1: The Age of Reason · 3 hours

     Study the dominating ideas of the 18th century, including the Age of Reason and Enlightenment.. Explore the making of the American nation and the ideology that led to its creation.. Study the dominant literary traditions that emerged..

5. Week 5Module 2 AMERICAN RENAISSANCE: THE LITERATURE OF REASON AND REVOLUTION

   • Unit 2: Introduction to American Romanticism · 3 hours

     Study the emergence of Romanticism and its influence on American literature.. Identify the defining features of Romantic writings.. Examine the influence of Romanticism on major writers of the period..

6. Week 6Module 2 AMERICAN RENAISSANCE: THE LITERATURE OF REASON AND REVOLUTION

   • Unit 3: American Renaissance · 3 hours

     Study the emergence of groups of poets with distinct ideologies.. Examine the Fireside poets and the Transcendentalist poets.. Explore the dominant subject matters, themes, and styles employed by the poets..

7. Week 7Module 2 AMERICAN RENAISSANCE: THE LITERATURE OF REASON AND REVOLUTION

   • Unit 4: Transcendentalism and the American Literary Renaissance · 3 hours

     Focus on the writings and genres of the American Renaissance.. Study the themes and dominant style of this period.. Explore the works of Nathaniel Hawthorne and the beginnings of women's writings..

8. Week 8Module 3 The Development of American Literature from the Mid Nineteenth Century

   • Unit 1 The American Civil War Literature · 3 hours

     Learn the defining developments in America's literature in the latter half of the nineteenth century.. Explore how the American Civil War influenced fictional and non-fictional writings.. Examine how the postwar reconstruction led to the emergence of a realist literary tradition..

9. Week 9Module 3 The Development of American Literature from the Mid Nineteenth Century

   • Unit 2 The Development of Realist Fiction · 3 hours

     Learn about the realist fiction in American literature.. Explore how this mode grew out of a disenchantment with the romance.. Learn about the early realist writers and some of their writings..

10. Week 10Module 3 The Development of American Literature from the Mid Nineteenth Century

    • Unit 3 Naturalism in American Literature · 3 hours

      Learn about the naturalist fiction in American literature.. Explore the origins and development of this mode.. Study the defining characteristics of naturalist writings..

11. Week 11Module 4 Modern Literature (1900 to 1945)

    • Unit 1: Modern American Prose · 3 hours

      Explore the fundamental features of the American novel between 1900 and 1950.. Examine the literary forces that led to the emergence and development of literary modernism.. Highlight some notable modern American writers..

12. Week 12Module 4 Modern Literature (1900 to 1945)

    • Unit 2: Modern American Poetry · 3 hours

      Study the development of poetry in America in the early years of the twentieth century.. Examine the forms, trends, and major forerunners of the poetic modern tradition.. Study the works of Ezra Pound and Robert Frost..

13. Week 13Module 4 Modern Literature (1900 to 1945)

    • Unit 2 Modern American Drama · 3 hours

      Examine the genre of drama in the early 20th century in America.. Explore the features and trends that marked the development of the genre.. Learn about the major themes that dominated the dramatic works of the time..

    • Unit 4: Early African-American and Women Writings · 3 hours

      Focus on literary works produced in the early twentieth century by African Americans and Women writers.. Explore how the economic depression facilitated the growth of these writings.. Highlight major themes and preoccupations of the writers..