Course: History of American Literature I - Seminar

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Course title History of American Literature I - Seminar
Course code UAN/7SM1U
Organizational form of instruction Seminar
Level of course Bachelor
Year of study 2
Semester Summer
Number of ECTS credits 3
Language of instruction English
Status of course Compulsory
Form of instruction Face-to-face
Work placements This is not an internship
Recommended optional programme components None
Course availability The course is available to visiting students
Lecturer(s)
  • Machová Mariana, doc. PhDr. Ph.D.
  • Adar Einat, M.A. Ph.D.
Course content
Washington Irving: "Rip Van Winkle" Edgar Allan Poe: "The Tell-Tale Heart" Ralph Waldo Emerson: Nature Herman Melville: "Bartleby, the Scrivener" Harriett Jacobs: Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl Emily Dickinson: 1755 To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee, 613 They shut me up in Prose -, 1448 How soft a Caterpillar steps -, 112 (67) Success is counted sweetest Henry James: "The Figure in the Carpet" Kate Chopin: "The Storm" Willa Cather: My Ántonia

Learning activities and teaching methods
Dialogic (discussion, interview, brainstorming), Work with text (with textbook, with book)
Learning outcomes
The course offers the introduction to the key works, authors and movements of older American literature, the main focus being the 19th century. The seminar further develops the themes introduced in the lecture. It is based on the students own reading experience: the core of the seminar is a discussion of selected texts, the students work in smaller groups, in which they discuss assigned topics and present the results in the seminar. The aim of the seminar is to encourage the students to independent work with the texts and to develop their interpretation skills.
The seminar will enhance the students abilities of literary analysis and interpretation.
Prerequisites
As the class is taught in English, the students are expected to have adequate language skills.

Assessment methods and criteria
Student performance assessment

1. Active participation in class: reading of the assigned texts, class attendance, active participation in class discussions 2. Group work: preparing and leading group discussions (twice per semester), active participation in group discussions, evaluation of discussions 3. Final written test: during the credit week (last week of the semester), student will take a final test about the materials covered. Students who fail the exam on the first attempt will have one more re-take. After that, no more re-takes are possible.
Recommended literature
  • Primární texty dle sylabu.
  • The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W. W. Norton & Co, 2007.
  • Bercovitch, Sacvan,; Patell, Cyrus R. K. The Cambridge history of American literature. Volume 2, 1820-1865. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN 0-521-30106-8.
  • Bercovitch, Sacvan. The Cambridge history of American literature. Volume 3, Prose writing : 1860-1920. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-521-30107-6.
  • Bercovitch, Sacvan. The Cambridge history of American literature. Volume 4, Nineteenth-century poetry : 1800-1910. 1st pub. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.
  • Crane, G. The Cambridge Introduction to The Nineteenth-Century American Novel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  • Gray, R. A History of American Literature. 2nd edition. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.
  • Lawrence, D. H. Studies in Classic American Literature (1923). Ed. by Ezra Greenspan, Lindeth Vasey and John Worthen. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
  • Matthiessen, F. O. American renaissance : art and expression in the age of Emerson and Whitman. London: Oxford University Press, 1968. ISBN 0-19-500759-X.
  • Quinn, J. (ed.). Lectures on American Literature. Praha: Karolinum, 2011.
  • Ruland, R., Bradbury, M. From Puritanism to Postmodernism. A History of American Literature. London: Penguin Books, 1991.
  • Ruland, Richard; Bradbury, Malcolm. Od puritanismu k postmodernismu : dějiny americké literatury. 1. vyd. Praha: Mladá fronta, 1997. ISBN 80-204-0586-0.
  • Ward, G. The Writing of America. Literature and Cultural Identity from the Puritans to the Present. Cambridge: Polity Press, 2002.


Study plans that include the course
Faculty Study plan (Version) Category of Branch/Specialization Recommended year of study Recommended semester