This course examines a selection of key texts published in the US in the nineteenth century, a key period in the nation's development as a modern republic. Students will read and study the works of those writers (Emerson and Whitman) whose embracing of democratic energies and creation of aesthetic forms seemed to capture the spirit of a new republican age. We will analyse these much-celebrated works alongside 1) the works of minority writers and 2) the proliferation of mass-marketed popular fiction during this period.

By the end of this course, students should be able to

1. identify key elements in literary and popular texts that enable students to evaluate the distinctive features of, as well as evaluate the similarities and differences between, these narrative forms

2. think, write and argue about the importance of literary and intellectual approaches in the context of a modern, industrialising society

3. develop a critical stance on the role that narrative forms play in imagining, shaping and responding to representations of nineteenth-century US culture

Essay of 1,500 words (30%)

Essay of 2,500 words (40%)

Participation and contribution to online discussion or blogs (30%)

One 1.5-hour lecture and one 1-hour tutorial per week. Approx. 6 hour's reading/writing time per week.

Any two English courses.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Nature" and "Self-Reliance"  in The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Volume B. Seventh Edition.

Walt Whitman, Leaves of Grass in The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Volume B. Seventh Edition.