ENGL 450

Fall 2013

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American Lit 1865-1914
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Credit: 3 OR 4 hours.

3 undergraduate hours. 4 graduate hours. Prerequisite: One year of college literature or consent of instructor.

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CRN Type Section Time Day Location Instructor Section Details
40395
Lecture-Discussion
1G
2:00PM -3:15PM
MW
329 Gregory Hall
Murison, J
Part of Term:
1
Date Range:
08/26/13-12/11/13
Credit:
4 hours
Section Info:
?Never was there, perhaps, more hollowness at heart than at present, and here in the United States.? ? Walt Whitman, 1871 When the dust had settled from the Civil War, Americans faced an era that they could not have anticipated. The rampant industrialization of the country, the emancipation and enfranchisement of African Americans and the subsequent brutal attempts to retrench on that promise, massive income inequalities and the rise of unions and anarchist movements in response, extreme partisanship and corrupt government practices, the invention of the automobile and the shift to overseas empire-building in places like Hawai?i and the Philippines: all of these events fueled the literature of the era. This is the age of literary realism, in which authors wrought literature in response to these new developments in economics, science, and politics. We will consider the tense relation between what we call ?realism? and an era, as Walt Whitman?s lament above suggests, that saw itself as having lost its ?heart? in the face of the materialism, industrialization, and political wrangling. This course will concentrate on four flashpoints: the construction and promotion of ?realist? literature; the role of literature in critiquing and policing class boundaries; the response of African American literature to Jim Crow legislation and lynching; and, finally, literature?s relation to the seismic impact of new sciences, most prominently Darwinism. Our readings will include such authors as Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells, Edith Wharton, W.E.B. Du Bois, Henry Adams, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Walt Whitman, Pauline Hopkins, and Charles Chesnutt. Course requirements will include two papers (one of which will be a research paper built over the course of the semester) and two exams.
Restriction(s):
Restricted to Graduate - Urbana-Champaign.
39493
Lecture-Discussion
1U
2:00PM -3:15PM
MW
329 Gregory Hall
Murison, J
Part of Term:
1
Date Range:
08/26/13-12/11/13
Credit:
3 hours
Section Info:
?Never was there, perhaps, more hollowness at heart than at present, and here in the United States.? ? Walt Whitman, 1871 When the dust had settled from the Civil War, Americans faced an era that they could not have anticipated. The rampant industrialization of the country, the emancipation and enfranchisement of African Americans and the subsequent brutal attempts to retrench on that promise, massive income inequalities and the rise of unions and anarchist movements in response, extreme partisanship and corrupt government practices, the invention of the automobile and the shift to overseas empire-building in places like Hawai?i and the Philippines: all of these events fueled the literature of the era. This is the age of literary realism, in which authors wrought literature in response to these new developments in economics, science, and politics. We will consider the tense relation between what we call ?realism? and an era, as Walt Whitman?s lament above suggests, that saw itself as having lost its ?heart? in the face of the materialism, industrialization, and political wrangling. This course will concentrate on four flashpoints: the construction and promotion of ?realist? literature; the role of literature in critiquing and policing class boundaries; the response of African American literature to Jim Crow legislation and lynching; and, finally, literature?s relation to the seismic impact of new sciences, most prominently Darwinism. Our readings will include such authors as Mark Twain, Henry James, William Dean Howells, Edith Wharton, W.E.B. Du Bois, Henry Adams, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Walt Whitman, Pauline Hopkins, and Charles Chesnutt. Course requirements will include two papers (one of which will be a research paper built over the course of the semester) and two exams.
Restriction(s):
Restricted to Undergrad - Urbana-Champaign.
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