American Literature, 1607-1880
Academic Responsibility: Mandy Cooper
This module introduces students to the analysis of American Literature and the development of a distinctively "American" as opposed to "European" voice and imagination. Links between literature and art will also be explored. Following a brief introduction to early American literary responses to the "New World", the course will focus on Romantic poetry and reflections on the landscape by Walt Whitman and American Gothic short stories by Edgar Allan Poe. The course will also include a detailed study of two novels: The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne and Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in the court of King Arthur.
Assessment
Assessment is by coursework only – there are no exams in American Studies.