ENGL 45AH: HONORS SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE I: BEGINNINGS TO 1865
Foothill College Course Outline of Record
| Heading | Value |
|---|---|
| Effective Term: | Summer 2022 |
| Units: | 5 |
| Hours: | 5 lecture per week (60 total per quarter) |
| Prerequisite: | Eligibility for college-level composition (ENGL 1A or 1AH or ESLL 26), as determined by college assessment or other appropriate method. |
| Advisory: | Successful completion of college-level composition (ENGL 1A, 1AH, 1S & 1T, or ESLL 26) or equivalent; not open to students with credit in ENGL 45A, 48A or 48B. |
| Degree & Credit Status: | Degree-Applicable Credit Course |
| Foothill GE: | Area VI: United States Cultures & Communities, Area I: Humanities |
| Transferable: | CSU/UC |
| Grade Type: | Letter Grade Only |
| Repeatability: | Not Repeatable |
Student Learning Outcomes
- A successful student will be able to read literary texts of various genres and literary movements and subsequently actively and critically assess those works within 16th to 19th century contexts for denotative and connotative meaning, structure and development, and connections between literal and figurative detail.
- Students can select an appropriate literary-critical vocabulary and concept (from a variety of possible approaches) and apply the vocabulary/concept to the interpretation of an assigned piece of historical fiction.
Description
Course Objectives
The student will be able to:
A. demonstrate knowledge of major writers, key texts, documents, and debates of American literature from 1492-1865 by analyzing the development of a distinctive national political and aesthetic culture as reflected in the major writers and texts of this period.
B. identify major literary genres, and trace the emergence and development of literary forms during this period.
C. apply relevant critical and theoretical frameworks to evaluate the literature within historical, multicultural, and philosophical contexts.
D. orally demonstrate and demonstrate in college-level writing extended, sophisticated analytical understanding of the literary texts via a range of theoretical paradigms.
E. demonstrate appropriate formatting and documentation.
Course Content
A. Major writers and canonical texts
1. Pre-contact Native American literatures
2. Early colonial narratives from explorers, such as Columbus, Cabeza De Vaca, Captain John Smith
3. Puritan texts (e.g., William Bradford, George Winthrop, Anne Bradstreet)
4. Revolutionary War era literature by writers, such as Tom Paine, Thomas Jefferson, Phyllis Wheatley
5. African American literature by authors, such as Olaudah Equiano, Phillis Wheatley, Frederick Douglass, Harriett Jacobs
6. Transcendentalism (writers, such as Emerson, Thoreau, Fuller)
7. Gothic literature (writers, such as Hawthorne, Poe)
8. American Folk literature (e.g., Irving, Boone)
B. Literary genres and forms
1. Native American oral literatures, such as myths, songs, and legends
2. Puritan forms (e.g., religious histories, diaries, letters, poems, spiritual meditations)
3. Revolutionary War political documents
4. Slave narratives and speeches
5. Autobiography
6. Nature writing
7. Frontier fiction, tall tales
8. Poetic forms
9. Short fiction
10. Essays
C. Relevant critical and theoretical frameworks
1. Historical perspectives, including dominant ethical, philosophical, political, religious, social, and aesthetic perspectives in the literature of this period
a. Identify the role of literary representations in creating (and subverting) significant American political ideologies, including slavery and abolition, Manifest Destiny, the concept of inalienable rights
2. Gender studies
3. Queer theories; sexuality studies
4. Psychological theories (Freudian or Jungian)
5. Marxian or other socioeconomic frameworks
6. Theories of race and ethnicity
7. Postcolonial and neocolonial studies
D. Oral and written analytical understanding of the literary texts
1. Class discussion regarding analytical reading of literary texts
2. Composition of literary analysis essays on literary texts
3. Research to supplement understanding of the literary texts
E. Formatting and documentation
1. Modern Language Association (MLA)
2. American Psychological Association (APA)
Lab Content
Not applicable.
Special Facilities and/or Equipment
B. When taught via Foothill Global Access, ongoing access to computer with email and basic software capabilities.
Method(s) of Evaluation
A. Examinations as determined by instructor
B. Composition of at least two formal literary analysis essays of at least 1500 words each; these essays must be theory-based and research-based in nature
C. Informal assignments as determined by instructor
D. Class discussion
E. Formal presentations (at instructor's discretion)
Method(s) of Instruction
A. Lecture presentations on the history and interpretation of the assigned texts
B. In-class discussion of the assigned texts, including instructor-guided interpretation and analysis
C. Group presentations on inquiry projects focusing on key tools and skill sets in literary interpretation
Representative Text(s) and Other Materials
Levine, Robert S., ed. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Shorter 9th ed. W.W. Norton & Company, 2017.
Lauter, Paul, ed. The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 6th ed. Volumes A-B: Beginnings to 1865. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2008.
Types and/or Examples of Required Reading, Writing, and Outside of Class Assignments
A. Reading from representative literary texts as assigned by instructor
B. Quizzes on reading comprehension of assigned literary texts
C. Analytical and reader response journal assignments on readings
D. Composition of extended, theory-based, research-based literary analysis