ENG 380 - THE AMERICAN RENAISSANCE, In Literature and In Theory

Institution:

University of Rochester

Subject:

Description:

In this seminar, we'll do two things at once: read the works associated with the 19th-century "American Renaissance", and also read the great books of 20th-century criticism that produce and defend this tradition. We alternate weeks between works of literature and criticism, in order to establish an interesting reciprocal dialogue between the two kinds of writing. Of criticism, we'll ask: Which authors or works did critics value or devalue in order to make a "tradition"? What happens when we focus on the "literary" elements of critical prose? Of the literature: what features of form or content made certain works the harbingers of a cultural "rebirth"? Is there any sense in which these literary works do something like "criticism" - e.g., in thinking about their own value as fulfilling the call for a national aesthetic? Readings include literary works by Melville, Hawthorne, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, and critical works by D.H. Lawrence, F.O. Matthiessen, Leslie Fiedler, and Richard Poirier.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.rochester.edu

Phone Number:

(888) 822-2256

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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