Undergraduate Course: American Innocence (ENLI10286)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Available to all students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | In this course we will study essays, poetry, and novels written by American authors, paying attention to the works' formal properties while also attending to the ways that these literary texts portray America's promises of freedom and happiness, its mythology of new world innocence versus old world corruption, while also holding in view the racism, regional and class conflicts, and environmental exploitation that have marked US history. In short, we will explore the interlinked mythologies of innocence, wilderness, and freedom while also attending to their shadowy underside (as all these literary works, on some level, do). Innocence, experience, wilderness, freedom, bondage, race, gender, faith, community; we will keep coming back to these concepts and the debates surrounding them and their evolving meanings. |
| Course description |
WEEK 1: Introduction (Readings: de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer; #3 & #9, 1782; Frederick Douglass, 'Fourth of July Oration', 1852; and listen to David Runciman's podcast on de Tocqueville)
WEEK 2: Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Nature' (1836) and 'Circles' (1841)
WEEK 3: Walt Whitman, 'Song of Myself' (1855); and 'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry' (1855)
WEEK 4: Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850)
WEEK 5: Emily Dickinson, poems (pub. 1890 & 1891): 'I taste a liquor never brewed' (207), 'Make Me a Picture of the Sun' (239), 'Wild Nights' (269), 'She sweeps with many colored brooms' (318), 'Of Bronze and Blaze' (319), 'I felt a funeral' (340), 'Perhaps I asked too large' (358), 'I like to see it lap the miles' (383), 'Two Butterflies Went Out at Noon' (571), 'I Started Early - Took my Dog' (656), 'What Soft Cherubic Creatures' (675), 'I felt a cleaving' (867), 'They put us far apart' (708), 'My Life Had stood - a loaded gun' (764), 'What Mystery Pervades a well' (1433), 'Split the lark' (598), 'Presentiment is that long shadow' (487).
WEEK 6: Henry James, 'Daisy Miller: A Study' (1878)
WEEK 7: Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence (1919)
WEEK 8: Willa Cather, O Pioneers! (1913)
WEEK 9: Kathleen Collins, 'Whatever Happened to Interracial Love?' and James Baldwin, 'The Fire Next Time' (1962)
WEEK 10: Louise Erdrich, Tracks (1988)
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Information for Visiting Students
| Pre-requisites | A MINIMUM of 4 college/university level literature courses at grade B or above (should include no more than one introductory level literature course). Related courses such as civilisation or other interdisciplinary classes, Freshman Year Seminars or composition/creative writing classes/workshops are not considered for admission to this course. Applicants should also note that, as with other popular courses, meeting the minimum does NOT guarantee admission. In making admissions decisions preference will be given to students who achieve above the minimum requirement with the typical visiting student admitted to this course having 4 literature classes at grade A.
** as numbers are limited, visiting students should contact the Visiting Student Office directly for admission to this course ** |
| High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
|
| Academic year 2024/25, Available to all students (SV1)
|
Quota: 15 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
196 )
|
| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
|
| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Standard Model:
2000 word coursework essay (30%) submitted mid-semester;
plus 3000 word final essay submitted during exam period (70%).
OR: Alternative model: alternative coursework assessment (30%)
+ 3000 word final essay submitted at end of semester / in exam period (70%) |
| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
| Students who complete this course successfully, will develop a close textual knowledge of a number of key American novels that depict the experiences of coming of age, and an understanding of how and why the ideas of innocence and youth have acquired such currency in the national mythology of the United States. Successful students of this course will also develop an understanding of the historiographical origins of this mythology, and an appreciation of the value of coming of age as a uniquely American genre.
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Reading List
WEEK 1: Introduction (Readings: de Crevecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer; #3 & #9, 1782; Frederick Douglass, 'Fourth of July Oration', 1852; and listen to David Runciman's podcast on de Tocqueville)
WEEK 2: Ralph Waldo Emerson, 'Nature' (1836) and 'Circles' (1841)
WEEK 3: Walt Whitman, 'Song of Myself' (1855); and 'Crossing Brooklyn Ferry' (1855)
WEEK 4: Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter (1850)
WEEK 5: Emily Dickinson, poems (pub. 1890 & 1891): 'I taste a liquor never brewed' (207), 'Make Me a Picture of the Sun' (239), 'Wild Nights' (269), 'She sweeps with many colored brooms' (318), 'Of Bronze and Blaze' (319), 'I felt a funeral' (340), 'Perhaps I asked too large' (358), 'I like to see it lap the miles' (383), 'Two Butterflies Went Out at Noon' (571), 'I Started Early' Took my Dog' (656), 'What Soft Cherubic Creatures' (675), 'I felt a cleaving' (867), 'They put us far apart' (708), 'My Life Had stood' a loaded gun' (764), 'What Mystery Pervades a well' (1433), 'Split the lark' (598), 'Presentiment is that long shadow'(487).
WEEK 6: Henry James, 'Daisy Miller: A Study' (1878)
WEEK 7: Edith Wharton, The Age of Innocence (1919)
WEEK 8: Willa Cather, O Pioneers! (1913)
WEEK 9: Kathleen Collins, 'Whatever Happened to Interracial Love' and James Baldwin, 'The Fire Next Time' (1962)
WEEK 10: Louise Erdrich, Tracks (1988)
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Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Allyson Stack
Tel: (0131 6)50 4290
Email: allyson.stack@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Hope Hamilton
Tel: (0131 6)50 4167
Email: hope.hamilton@ed.ac.uk |
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