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2021/2022

19th Century North American Literature

Code: 100248 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500245 English Studies OB 2 2
2501902 English and Catalan OB 3 2
2501907 English and Classics OB 3 2
2501910 English and Spanish OB 3 2
2501913 English and French OB 3 2
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Maria Cristina Pividori Gurgo
Email:
MariaCristina.Pividori@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Clara Román Vanden Berghe
Laura Gimeno Pahissa

Prerequisites

  1. Prior to do this subject, it is highly recommended that students have taken the following subjects: “Twentieth Century British Literature” from the First Year and “Victorian Literature” from the Second Year – First Semester.
  2. It is necessary to have an English level between C1 and C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment." A C1 level of English allows students to: understand a wide range of demanding, longer clauses and recognize implicit meaning; express ideas fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions; use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes; produce clear, well-structured, detailed texts on complex subjects, showing controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors and cohesive devices. A C2 level of English allows students to: understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstruct arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.

Objectives and Contextualisation

  1. This subject fosters the analysis, debate and interpretation of fiction, essays and poetry written in the United States during the 19th century with a brief outlook at literature produced under the colonial period. 
  2. The academic preparation deriving from this subject is essential for all remaining subjects within the degree relating to US literature and culture.
  3. On successfully completing 19th century American Literature, students will be able to: show a good level of reading comprehension and analysis of American literature; produce written analyses of literary texts studied in class; manage secondary bibliography and databases; express an informed opinion on the texts studied throughout this course. 

Competences

    English Studies
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    English and Catalan
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    English and Classics
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    English and Spanish
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    English and French
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing and interpreting in a basic level literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  2. Analysing and interpreting texts in a medium level about the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
  3. Appropriately place literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding linguistic context.
  4. Appropriately placing literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding historical and cultural context.
  5. Appropriately placing literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding linguistic context.
  6. Carry out oral presentations in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  7. Carrying out oral presentations in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  8. Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
  9. Compare in a medium level the methodologies of literary criticism in English.
  10. Comparing in a medium level the methodologies of literary criticism in English.
  11. Contextualize literary texts in contemporary times before in its corresponding English language environment.
  12. Describing the historical and thematic evolution of the literary text in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  13. Distinguish the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of contemporary literary texts in English.
  14. Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of literary texts of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  15. Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of primary and secondary texts related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  16. Draw up brief argumentative essays or text comments in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  17. Drawing up brief argumentative essays or text comments in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  18. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  19. Identifying the main currents, authors, genres and texts of the main literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  20. Localise secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  21. Localising secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  22. Participating in face-to-face and virtual debates in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  23. Summarise the content of primary and secondary academic sources related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  24. Summarising the content of primary and secondary academic sources related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.

Content

UNIT 1 – The Native American Question. Captivity Narratives. Mary Rowlandson’s A True History of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson (selection of passages)

UNIT 2 – The American Rennaissance. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter; Herman Melville’s "Bartleby, the Scrivener"; Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience.

UNIT 3 - American Poetry. Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman (selection of poems)

UNIT 4 – Slavery and Racial Relations in America. Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave; Mark Twain’s text (title to be announced later); Kate Chopin’s “Desiree’s Baby”

UNIT 5 – The American Gothic. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” and “The Tell-tale Heart”

UNIT 6 – American Feminism. Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”; Margaret Fuller (selection of passages); Elizabeth Cady-Stanton (selection of passages); Sojourner Truth (selection of passages)

 

 

Methodology

Sessions will be organized around close reading of the texts. A historical, social and cultural context of nineteenth century America  provided in class (or on Moodle) will reinforce the textual analysis. Texts will be discussed in class (or on Moodle), so it is PARAMOUNT for students to have read the texts conscientiously before class sessions. Students are required to PARTICIPATE ACTIVELY in class discussions. 

The teaching methodology and the evaluation proposed in the guide may undergo some modification subject to the onsite teaching restrictions imposed by health authorities.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Guided 50 2 1, 4, 5, 12, 14, 15, 7, 19, 21, 22, 17, 24
Type: Supervised      
Supervised 25 1 1, 4, 5, 12, 14, 15, 7, 19, 21, 22, 17, 24
Type: Autonomous      
Reading and Study 50 2 1, 4, 5, 12, 14, 7, 19, 21, 22, 17

Assessment

Assessment is based on:

  • Academic essay = 40% - Date: week 5-7 April. 
  • Exam = 40% - Date: week 31May-2 June.
  • Forum Participation = 20% (There will be a specific deadline for each forum contribution required)

Please, note:

  • All the subjects in this degree follow continous assessment.
  • All the exercises are COMPULSORY.
  • The submission of either the paper or the exam invalidates the student to get a final mark of "No Avaluable".
  • The student's command of English will be taken into account when marking all exercises and for the final mark. It will count as 25% of this mark for all the exercises.
  • On carrying out each assessment activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
  • In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

RE-ASSESSMENT CONDITIONS:

  • Students whose final average mark of the two exercises (essay and exam) is 3,5 to 4,9 (without counting the class participation mark and the forum contribution mark) and who have completed Continuous Assessment may take re-assessment.
  • If the final average mark of the two exercises is inferior to 3,5 or if the student has failed both exercises, they will miss the opportunity of reassessment and will be granted a Fail.
  • The reassessment consists of a two-hour written exam on matters related to the subject. The exam is awarded a Pass/Fail mark and the maximum possible final mark is a 5.In case students cannot do the exercises (essay - exam) on the date set up by the teacher for justified medical reasons, they may do the exercise(s) on a different date agreed by the teacher.

 

VERY IMPORTANT : Partial or total plagiarising will immediately result in a FAIL (0) for the plagiarised exercise (first-year students) or the WHOLE subject (second-, third- and fourth-year students).PLAGIARISING consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources -whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text - with the intention of passing it off as the student'sown production. It includes cuttingand pasting from internet sources, presented unmodified in the student's own text. Plagiarising is a SERIOUS OFFENCE. Students must respect authors' intellectual property, always identifying the sources they may use; they must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own texts.

In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Academic essay 40% 4 0.16 1, 2, 10, 9, 11, 4, 3, 5, 14, 15, 13, 18, 8, 21, 20, 17, 16, 24, 23
Exam 40% 4 0.16 1, 2, 10, 9, 11, 4, 3, 5, 12, 14, 15, 13, 18, 8, 19, 21, 20, 17, 16, 24, 23
Forum Participation 20% 17 0.68 1, 2, 10, 4, 5, 12, 14, 15, 8, 7, 6, 19, 21, 22, 17, 24

Bibliography

Compulsory Reading:

ROWLANDSON, Mary. A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson

HAWTHORNE, Nathaniel. The Scarlet Letter (*) Recomanem les edicions Oxford (ISBN: 9780199537808) o Penguin (ISBN: 9780142437261) 

MELVILLE, Hermann. "Bartleby, the Scrivener" 

THOREAU, Henry David. Civil Disobedience (Complete essay)

DOUGLASS, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (*) Recomanem les edicions Oxford (ISBN: 9780199539079) o Penguin (ISBN: 9780140390124)

TWAIN, Mark. Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. 
 
CHOPIN, Kate. "Desiree's Baby" 
 
GILMAN, Charlotte Perkins. "The Yellow Wallpaper" 
 
POE, Edgar Allan. "The Tell-Tale Heart" and "The Black Cat" 
 
DICKINSON, Emily. Poetry (Selections)
 
WHITMAN, Walt. Poetry (Selections)
 
FULLER, Margaret (Selections)
 
CADY STANTON, Elizabeth (Selections)
 
TRUTH, Sojourner (Selections) 
 
 

1) Students must buy the texts marked (*).  Teachers will give you the rest of texts.

2) ALL texts can be found via Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg. org or Many Books http://manybooks.net

 

Secondary Bibliography: 

Crow, Charles (ed.). A Companion to the Regional Literatures of America. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2003.

Fisch, Audrey (ed.). The CambridgeCompanion to the African American Slave Narrative. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Gray, Richard. A History of American Literature. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004.

Gray, Richard (ed.). A Companion to the Literature and Culture of the American South. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004.

Lamb, Robert Paul (ed.). A Companion to American Fiction: 1865-1914. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2005.

Pizer, Donald (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to American Realism and Naturalism: Howells to London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Spengemann, William. Three American Poets: Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, and Herman Melville. Notre Dame, IN: The University of Notre Dame Press, 2010.

Sollors, Werner (ed.). A New Literary History of America. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.

 

Specific bibliography will be provided by the teacher throughout the semester.

 

Websites: 

American Literature Sites (Washington State University), http://public.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/

American Transcendentalism, http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/ 

The American Renaissance and Transcendentalism, PBS, http://www.pbs.org/wnet/ihas/icon/transcend.html

Documenting the American South. Slave Narratives and Southern texts. http://docsouth.unc.edu/neh/intro.html 

 

Software

Not applicable.