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ENGL 353 A: American Literature: Later Nineteenth Century

American Youth

  • Spring 2015
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Meeting Time: 
to be arranged
Location: 
* *
SLN: 
13861
Instructor:
John Griffith
John Griffith
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Additional Details:

"American Youth." In 1904, the American psychologist G. Stanley Hall invented the concept of “adolescence” when he published a book by that name. This course will consider the evolution of American literature from the Civil War to 1910 by focusing on texts that narrate the growth and maturation of a variety of characters. While for some the experience is troubling and even fatal, for others it offers optimism in the face of economic turbulence, racial tension, and class inequality. We will trace the parallels between the maturation of the characters and the United States’ own growing sense of itself as a modern society.

We will read texts by Louisa May Alcott, Horatio Alger, Elizabeth Keckley, Edith Wharton, W.E.B. DuBois, and Mark Twain.

Assignments will include several short, scaffolded essays.

Catalog Description: 
Explores American fiction, poetry, and prose during the latter half of the nineteenth century. May include such representative authors of the period as Twain, Dickinson, DuBois, Crane, Wharton and Chopin, along with supplementary study of the broader cultural and political milieu.
GE Requirements: 
Arts and Humanities (A&H)
Writing (W)
Other Requirements Met: 
Status: 
Active
Last updated: 
March 16, 2016 - 11:20am
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