ENGL 2030 - Introduction to American Literatures: Beginnings to the Civil War

(crosslisted)
(also AMST 2030) (HB) (LA-AS)

Fall. 4 credits.

May be used as one of the three pre-1800 courses required of English majors.

L. Donaldson.

Introduces students to a wide range of North American literatures such as fiction, poetry, drama, political writing, autobiography, ethnography, sermons, songs, and storytelling. It covers the histories of these genres from before European colonization to the U.S. Civil War. The course begins with Native American creation stories and ends with Herman Melville. Students will interpret genres and authors within their specific literary and social contexts and engage with voices not commonly heard in American literary histories—Olaudah Equiano and Nancy Ross, for example. Topics include European colonialism; slavery, race and the making of North American literature; Native Americans—removal and resistance; women’s literary production; the Enlightenment and revolution in North American colonies; and a special section on eighteenth-century natural histories.