Mark Twain

Mark Twain

During the fall semester, we will focus on American writers of the nineteenth century. These writers shaped the American imagination and culture, including our music, cartoons, movies, and even television. During the first few months of class, students will read a range of short stories, essays, and poems from 19th American writers. Each student will then choose one a novel by one 19th century American writer to read in November. The final two weeks so semester will focus on 19th American and European writings about Christmas.

Image used by permission via Creative Commons.

Course Overview

Class Schedule

August 17 – What is a story? What makes a good story? Why read stories? Why 19th Century?


Read before next class:

(optional) James Fenimore Cooper – The Eclipse – Text, Audio

Washington Irving – Knickerbocker’s History of New York (Book 2) –

PDF – History of New York

Audio

Essay 1 – Write a short story about your family history like how you got the family name, how you came to America, how you came to Knoxville, or something else. Follow Irving’s lead and add some fictional elements to your story. Email me your story. Title is essay1-yourname-august24.doc or essay1-yourname-august24.pages.

August 24 – American Folk Tales

Before next class: Washington Irving

Rip Van Winkle – Audio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb7QUmj3pTM

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow– Audio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT3x9vrNT9M

The Devil and Tom Walker – Audio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6PQN2c0QKA

Essay 2 – Washington Irving observed the world around him, paying attention both to the natural scenery and the local customs and stories.Many of his stories grow from these years of observation (see quote below). Irving often intermingles ghost tales or spiritual encounters in the stories he tells.  Before next class write an essay or story that explores the customs of your own family and your community where you live. Following Irving’s lead, you might try to intermingle a ghost tale, an angel tale, or some supernatural element within your story. It could be a gateway to another world (like Narnia), like a fairy tale, or it could be like an angelic appearance in Scripture. On Thursday, we’ll discuss our stories in light of Irving’s stories.

This is from Washington Irving’s journal:

As I grew into boyhood, I extended the range of my observations. My holiday afternoons were spent in rambles about the surrounding country. I made myself familiar with all its places famous in history or fable. I knew every spot where a murder or robbery had been committed or a ghost seen. I visited the neighboring villages and added greatly to my stock of knowledge by noting their habits and customs, and conversing with their sages and great men. I even journeyed one long summer’s day to the summit of the most distant hill, when I stretched my eye over many a mile of terra incognita, and was astonished to find how vast a globe I inhabited. (Jones, Brian Jay. Washington Irving: The Definitive Biography of America’s First Bestselling Author (Kindle Locations 183-188). Arcade Publishing. Kindle Edition.)

August 31 –

Before next class: Ralph Waldo Emerson – Nature; Henry David Thoreau – Walking

Ralph Waldo Emerson – Nature, video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udLpRNBWfU0

Henry David Thoreau – Walking, video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUabP7uxMLw

Essay 3 – Choose one of Washington Irving’s short stories and write a character study. This essay should be around five paragraphs long, and you will talk about at least three characteristics of a single character (or multiple characters). You should reference details from the story that back up your description.

September 7 – American Optimism (Transcendental Movement)

Here are a couple short bios on the two writers we discussed today:

Ralph Waldo Emerson – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOkdFMw0pmk

Henry David Thoreau – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJL9S0J8-4k

Essay #4 – For next week, chose two or three quotes from either Emerson or Thoreau and discuss what you think those quotes mean and how they might apply in our world today.

Read – We will be reading Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. It is important to hear poetry, so try to either read the poems below out loud, or look up the video links I’ve provided. We’ll discuss in class next week. Bring quotes that you enjoyed or found difficult to understand. We’ll talk about little about reading poetry in general next week.

The poetry foundation site offers more information about each poet if you are interested. Both have been deeply influential in American thinking and writing. A movie just came out this year about Emily Dickinson. I have note seen it yet, but it looks interesting. If anyone is interested – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3SyPbUTEeU

Years ago there was a movie about Walt Whitman called Beautiful Dreamers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGDOwQNzS4s. I did see it and it is funny and touching.

Walt Whitman
Short Bio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nla-JDEp4jw
Longer Bio and Analysis – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QSxlA_gV6Q&t=12s

Crossing Brooklyn Ferry https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45470/crossing-brooklyn-ferry

Song of the Open Road https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48859/song-of-the-open-road

– https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxUTe1lWY6s

Emily Dickinson
Bio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4WwhOdk_Eg

Because I Could Not Stop for Death – https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/47652/because-i-could-not-stop-for-death-479

Hope is a Thing with Feathers – https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/42889/hope-is-the-thing-with-feathers-314https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SitTvcIusz0<

Forever is composed of Nows – https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52202/forever-is-composed-of-nows-690

A Bird Came Down the Walk – https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/56593/a-bird-came-down-the-walk-359

I Dwell in Possibility – https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52197/i-dwell-in-possibility-466

September 14 – The Dark Romantics (Poe, Hawthorne, & Melville)

Read before next class:

Edgar Allen Poe –

The Purloined Letter – THE PURLOINED LETTER

The System of Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether – THE SYSTEM OF DR. TARR AND PROF. FETHER

Metaphors – Metaphors We Live By, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0edKgL9EgM

Essay #5 – This week, we’re not really writing an essay, but I want you to make a list of metaphors, images, tropes, and patterns that you’ve seen in what we’ve read so far. We’ll build on this list as we go. These 19th century writers are forming a vocabulary of images that continue to shape American movies, stories, and poems. Also, for bonus points, try using some of these elements in a poem.

September 21 –

Before next class: Nathaniel Hawthorne –

Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment – http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/2011/06/dr-heidegger-experiment.html

The Birthmark – http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/search?q=the+birthmark

Feathertop – http://storyoftheweek.loa.org/search?q=feathertop

Essay #6 – To help you think about analyzing literature and about how the Bible, Shakespeare, Mythology, and Fairy Tales influence our stories, I’d like you to continue thinking about the Biblical imagery we discussed in class on the sea and on trees. We discuss in these in class. This should help you begin to think about how symbols work in other stories as well as how writers often allude to other stories.

Choose one of the following:

First, in relation to the sea. I want you to try and find all the possible Biblical symbols in the baptism story from Matthew 3. Write a paragraph or two exploring all the connections you see in this related to other Biblical stories. Also, try to think of any stories or movies where you see something that looks a bit like baptism.

Second, in relation to the tree. I mentioned trees as images of people, kings, and kingdoms. In Ezekiel 31, he describes Assyria as a cedar tree that is eventually cut down. As one point, Ezekiel writes,

All the birds of the heavens
made their nests in its boughs;
under its branches all the beasts of the field
gave birth to their young,
and under its shadow
lived all great nations. (Ez 31:6)

Jesus uses a similar image to describe the kingdom of heaven, but he applies it to a mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32). See if you can figure why the image shifts from a cedar tree to a mustard tree.

September 28 –

Today we reflected on stories and images within the baptism story and the mustard seed parable. The Bible provides a wide range of stories and images that influence other stories. Here is a partial list of some Biblical images that reappear:

Baptism – Rain, character falling in water (or some other substance like oil), and sometimes even snow. Baptism communicates leaving one life or land behind and entering a new one (leaving Egypt, beginning journey to Promised Land). It also communities forgiveness, cleansing, redemption, initiation in community/family, healing. I’ve attached an article from the Dictionary of Biblical Symbolism if any of you are interested. This will give you a sense of how many different images and ideas are in baptism.
Trees – Often images of kings, kingdoms, people
Meals – Often an image of the communion meal. If people are eating together in a film or story, the meal could signify their relationship. If the meal is interrupted, it is often a bad sign: broken communion.
Reading for next week –
Herman Melville –
Essay 7 – Write an analysis paper on one of Hawthorne’s stories that we read. You could explore the role of science and magic, the references to Biblical themes and stories, or some other theme you see in the story.

October 5 –

Before next class: Mark Twain –

The Private History of a Campaign that Failed, audio – audio – https://tunein.com/audio-books/A-Private-History-of-a-Campaign-that-Failed-p693878/

The £1,000,000 Bank-Note, – https://librivox.org/the-1000000-bank-note-other-new-stories-by-mark-twain/

A Literary Nightmare (audio – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-HHThv0MF6o)

Essay  8 – This week we are not writing an essay, but make a list of allusions, metaphors/similes, or other comparisons found in Melville’s “Me and My Chimney.” Email me your list and bring a print out to class, so we can discuss.

October 12 – Fall Break

October 19 –

Before next class: Stephen Crane –

A Mystery of Heroism –

Open Boat –

Blue Hotel –

Essay 9 – Write an adventure/road trip story. Use some of the literary devices we’ve explored such as allusion, metaphor, simile, and hyperbole.

October 26 –

Before next class: Ambrose Bierce – An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge – http://compositionawebb.pbworks.com/f/owl.pdf

Video – https://vimeo.com/15147706

Essay – Write an essay analyzing one of the stories we read last week. You could compare it with earlier stories and consider what makes Crane’s story different. Or you could focus on the images and characters within the story.

Also, come prepared with the 19th-century American author you are going to focus upon in November. We will spend part of class discussing this, so look over the authors we’ve read or choose an author we haven’t read (but he or she must be a 19th American author).

November 2 –

Before next class: 19th American Novel chosen by student

November 9 –

Today we discussed the literary devices from the website I sent out last week (http://literary-devices.com/). I shortened the list and highlighted some of the key devices that you may need to know. (Devices shortlist)

I suggest you read your novel story at least twice before starting to write your essay. Remember this is a short month, so you should start reading right away. If you are reading short stories, you might read through a collection by the author and then choose several stories that you can analyze together.

First off, start out reading your novel, stories, or poems. Try to do that this week. Then notice what stands out to you: characters? plot? symbols? names? theme? When you read a second time, you’ll focus on what stands out to you and try to list everything you notice. This will be a step toward analyzing,

If you have questions, it is better to ask me sooner rather than later.

Before next class: 19th American Novel chosen by student

November 16 –

Before next class: 19th American Novel chosen by student

November 23 – Thanksgiving

November 30 –

Before next class: Christmas Stories

December 7 –

Before next class: Christmas Stories

December 14 –

Christmas Stories