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| Semester | fall semester 2021 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Philipp Schweighauser (ph.schweighauser@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman are two major American poets whose work had an enormous influence on later generations of American writers. After the modernists' trashing of the ever-effusive Whitman, the writers of the Beat generation, most notably Allen Ginsberg, reclaimed his catalogs, his exploration of taboo matters, and his all-embracing democratic gestures. Emily Dickinson's very different, terse and precise poetry, marked by elisions and those famous dashes, has been seen as a precursor of both modernist poetry and specifically female ways of writing. We will approach Whitman and Dickinson in three ways: by close reading their poems, teasing out all their semantic and syntactic intricacies; by situating them in their literary-historical contexts (from their own American Renaissance to their reappropriations by later generations of writers); and by exploring recent revisionist readings of their Civil War poetry and their daring explorations of spirituality and sexuality. |
| Learning objectives | You practice close readings of poems by two major American writers, situate Whitman and Dickinson in their literary-historical contexts, and explore recent critical perspectives on their poetry. |
| Bibliography | Before the beginning of the term, the following texts must be read: The 1855 edition of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and the following poems by Emily Dickinson (the number in brackets refers to the number of the poem in the Franklin edition referenced below): "After great pain a formal feeling comes" (372) "Bee! I'm expecting you" (983) "Cosmopolites without a plea" (1592) "Death is a dialogue between" (973) "Forbidden fruit a flavor has" (1482) "Her sweet weight on my heart a night" (611) "I am afraid to own a body" (1050) "I died for beauty but was scarce" (448) "I never hear that one is dead" (1325) "If I should die" (36) "It was not death, for I stood up" (355) "My life had stood a loaded gun" (764) "My river runs to thee" (219) "My wars are laid away in books" (1579) "Our lives are Swiss" (129) "Publication is the auction" (788) "Safe in their alabaster chambers" (124) "She died--this was the way she died" (154) "So give me back to death" (1653) "Some keep the Sabbath going to church" (236) "Sweet skepticism of the heart" (1438) "The definition of beauty is" (797) "The past is such a curious creature" (1273) "The soul selects her own society" (409) "The spider as an artist" (1373) "The sweetest heresy received" (671) "The test of love is death" (541) "There is a solitude of space" (1696) "There is no frigate like a book" (1286) "This is my letter to the world" (519) "This was a poet" (446) "Three times we parted--breath and I" (514) "To own a Susan of my own" (1436) "To see her is a picture" (1597) "'Twas fighting for his life he was" (1230) "When I was small, a woman died" (518) "'Why do I love' you, sir" (459) "Wild nights--Wild nights" (269) Make sure you buy exactly these copies: Dickinson, Emily. The Poems of Emily Dickinson: Reading Edition. Ed. R. W. Franklin. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005. ISBN 9780674018242. Whitman, Walt. Leaves of Grass: The First (1855) Edition. Ed. and introd. Malcolm Cowley. New York: Penguin, 1961. ISBN 9780140421996. Both volumes will be on sale at the 'Labyrinth' bookstore. You might consider supporting your local bookstore. All additional texts will be made available on ADAM. |
| Comments | Note that I'm also teaching the lecture course "American Literature Survey II/IV: American Renaissance to Naturalism" (27426-01), whose topic is closely related to this course. |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This seminar is for BA students on the advanced level who have completed ALL three introductory modules (including the proseminar papers). |
| Course application | Please register on MOnA. |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|---|
| wöchentlich | Wednesday | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Date | Time | Room |
|---|---|---|
| Wednesday 22.09.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 29.09.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 06.10.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 13.10.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 20.10.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 27.10.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 03.11.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 10.11.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 17.11.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 24.11.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 01.12.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 08.12.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 15.12.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Wednesday 22.12.2021 | 14.15-16.00 | Nadelberg 6, Grosser Hörsaal |
| Modules |
Modul: Advanced Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Bachelor's degree subject: English) |
| Assessment format | continuous assessment |
| Assessment details | regular attendance, active participation |
| Assessment registration/deregistration | Reg.: course registration; dereg.: not required |
| Repeat examination | no repeat examination |
| Scale | Pass / Fail |
| Repeated registration | as often as necessary |
| Responsible faculty | Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, studadmin-philhist@unibas.ch |
| Offered by | Fachbereich Englische Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft |