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Lecturer(s)
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Jařab Josef, prof. PhDr. CSc.
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Peprník Michal, prof. PhDr. Dr.
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Woock Elizabeth Allyn, Mgr. PhD.
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Course content
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Seminar topics and also exam topics of the first part of AL1Z exam. 1. American Literature in the Colonial Period. Puritanism and its influence on American literature and culture (the main Puritan doctrines, rhetoric, genres). Literature of the American Revolution; Neoclassicism, Republicanism. Authors: John Smith, William Bradford, John Winthrop; Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, H. St. John de Crévecoeur, The Federalist. 2. The Beginnings of National Literature and James Fenimore Cooper. Indian Captivity narratives, sketches, the novel and the romance, historical romance, the tradition of the Gothic novel, Pre-Romanticism and Sentimentalism, American Romanticism, primitivism, the picturesque and the sublime. Authors: Charles Brockden Brown, Washington Irving, J. F. Cooper 3. E. A. Poe as a Critic, Poet and Short Story Writer. The Neoclassical tradition, Romanticism, the Gothic novel tradition, horror vs. terror, the grotesque, the arabesque, origins of detective fiction. 4. Transcendentalism as a Romantic Movement: Its Origin, Objectives, Achievements and Failures Social Experiments, romantic individualism, the Sublime, concepts of Nature. Authors: R. W. Emerson, H. D. Thoreau, Margaret Fuller 5. The Abolitionist Movement and Anti-Slavery literature; African American Literature Folklore, novels, slave narratives, African American poetry in the 19th century. Authors: H. B. Stowe, Frederick Douglass, Joel Chandler Harris, Charles Wadell Chestnut, Paul Laurence Dunbar 6. Historical Romance in America. Authors: James Fenimore Cooper, Nathaniel Hawthorne Hawthorne?s theory and practice of romance vs Cooper 7. Symbolic Realism: From Poe to Melville. Authors: Herman Melville 8. Walt Whitman, an American Bard and Founder of American Modern Poetry. Experiment in form and content, the poetic sequence, Whitman?s influence on other poets. 9. Emily Dickinson and Her Poetic Innovations: Tradition and Experimentation 10. Regionalism and Local Color. Authors: Bret Harte, Joel Chandler Harris, Kate Chopin 11. Realism and Mark Twain. Humor and Satire. Tall tales and folk culture. 12. Psychological Realism. New narrative techniques, experiments with the point of view. Authors: Henry James, Edith Wharton, Kate Chopin, Charlotte Perkins Gilman
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Learning activities and teaching methods
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Monologic Lecture(Interpretation, Training), Dialogic Lecture (Discussion, Dialog, Brainstorming), Work with Text (with Book, Textbook), Methods of Written Work
- Homework for Teaching
- 26 hours per semester
- Preparation for the Course Credit
- 14 hours per semester
- Attendace
- 26 hours per semester
- Semestral Work
- 34 hours per semester
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Learning outcomes
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The course is focused on major trends and on an analysis of classic literary works of 19th-century American literature. The course provides a better understanding of the structure of literary works and the relationship between the text and context (literary trends such as neo-classicism, romanticism, realism, genres such as autobiography, narrative, essay, romance, historical romance, novel, short story, sketch, modern epic, poetry), aesthetic and literary theory categories (the sublime, horror vs terror, picturesque, grotesque, fantastic, comic, satire). Students signing up for the course are warned that if there is insufficient room in the course, preference is given to those students for whom the course is obligatory.
- An understanding of the development of 19th-century American literature and of the main genres in relation to the social and cultural changes - A general knowledge of the main American authors,the development of their writing - An understanding of the specific character of literary representation - An understanding of the connections between the past and the present, mediated by literature - A knowledge of basic literary terminology - Greater competence in interpreting literary texts - Ability to hold a scholarly discussion
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Prerequisites
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A knowledge of basic literary theory from the course Introduction to Literature UL00.
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Assessment methods and criteria
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Mark, Written exam
Credit requirements: - 5 short in-class assignments testing the knowledge and understanding of the texts (setting, story and plot, characters). It is neccessary to pass four tests out of five. - attendance and participation in the class work (maximum two absences) - good knowledge of the texts - tested in class, a lack of reading knowledge counts as an absence
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Recommended literature
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Abrams, M.H. (2009). A Glossary of Literary Terms. Boston.
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Gray, Richard. (2011). A History of American Literature. Malden.
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Hart, James D. (1995). The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature. New York.
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Lauter, Paul, ed. (2008). The Heath Anthology of American Literature. 6th. ed.. Boston.
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Peprník, Michal. Topos lesa v americké literatuře.
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Russ, Castronovo, ed. (2012). The Oxford Handbook of Nineteenth-Century American Literature. New York.
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