HU 382D: American Literature (3 hrs)

Instructor: Darby Whealy

darant@graceu.edu

Helpdesk: pchelp@graceu.edu

(402) 449-2904

Course Description

We undertake this course together, as a dialog that seeks to engage the work of American writers and poets. The course will consist of readings and responses that facilitate our comprehension and analysis of American Literature. Discussion questions will center on issues such as faith, social contexts, and the human condition. You will often be asked to compare and contrast different readings, and analyze various themes and images. The course will start with some of the earliest American literature and progress through twentieth- and twenty-first century texts.

Textbooks

A significant amount of course content is based on the required textbooks. Textbooks are available for purchase from the university bookstore (www.graceu.edu/bookstore).

• The Norton Anthology of American Literature, 6^th edition, Baym, Nina, W.W. Norton & Company; 6^th Edition, November 2002 (ISBN: 0393979695)

Technology Requirements

This course requires the latest versions of the software plug-ins or programs listed below. Run a system scan at the Microsoft system requirements site: https://www.microsoftelearning.com/help/systemRequirements.aspx

Software	Use	Download
Internet Explorer	Accessing course	http://www.microsoft.com/ie
Flash Player (SWF)	Viewing media	http://www.adobe.com/downloads
Adobe Reader (PDF)	Reading documents	http://www.adobe.com/downloads
Windows Media Player (WMV)	Viewing media	http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia
Microsoft Office Word (DOC)	Viewing, creating and editing documents (all files are sent in .doc format)	http://www.microsoft.com/office/word

Course Objectives

Specific goals for this course include developing our abilities to:

• Engage with and articulate the contents of the texts studied.
• Discuss the readings in relation to each other.
• Examine how the readings both reflect and create their cultural contexts.
• Understand the influences and relationships between given texts.

Class Schedule

Lesson	Topic	Learning Activities
1	Jonathan Edwards	· Discussion
2	Nathaniel Hawthorne	· Discussion
3	Edgar Allen Poe	· Discussion
4	Walt Whitman	· Discussion
5	Emily Dickinson	· Discussion
6	Edith Wharton	· Discussion
7	Charlotte Perkins Gilman	· Discussion
8	Midterm Exam	· Discussion · Midterm Exam
9	F. Scott Fitzgerald	· Discussion
10	Ernest Hemingway	· Discussion
11	Eudora Welty	· Discussion
12	Carl Sandburg & Robert Frost	· Discussion
13	John Updike & Philip Roth	· Discussion
14	Louise Erdrich & Maxine Hong Kingston	· Discussion · Analysis Paper
15	Final Exam	· Discussion · Final Exam