| Semester | fall semester 2021 |
| Course frequency | Irregular |
| Lecturers | Philipp Schweighauser (ph.schweighauser@unibas.ch, Assessor) |
| Content | In this seminar, you will read and discuss three major novels of the American Renaissance - arguably the American variety of romanticism: Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The House of the Seven Gables" (1851), Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (1852), and Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick" (1851). Hawthorne's novel not only tells a riveting gothic tale; its preface, in which the author proposes his famous distinction between the 'novel' and the 'romance', has had a major impact on the writing of U.S. literary history. Long decried by critics for either its tear-jearking scenes or its racism, "Uncle Tom's Cabin", Stowe's sentimental protest against slavery, is perhaps the one American novel that best exemplifies what the New Historicist literary critic Jane Tompkins calls 'cultural work', i.e., how literary texts are engaged in "providing society with a means of thinking about itself, defining certain aspects of a social reality which the authors and their readers shared, dramatizing its conflicts, and recommending solutions" ("Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction, 1790–1860"). While "Moby-Dick" was catalogued under 'cetology' (the scientific study of whales) in Harvard University's Widener Library until the early twentieth century, it has moved to the center of the American canon since the Melville revival started in 1919. Melville tells a spell-binding adventure tale that builds on popular narratives of the day as much as it probes the limits of Emersonian transcendentalism and explores, as Toni Morrison has shown, the problem of whiteness. |
| Learning objectives | In-depth discussion of three canonical texts of the American Renaissance; exploration of the novels' historical, literary-historical, philosophical, and social contexts. |
| Bibliography | The three novels we will discuss should be purchased and read before the beginning of the term. We'll start with Hawthorne. I strongly recommend you buy exactly these editions of the novel as they are scholary editions with plenty of extra material that we will draw on during the course: Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The House of the Seven Gables" (Second Norton Critical Edition, ed. Robert S. Levine, W. W. Norton, 2020. ISBN-13 978-0393679465); Harriet Beecher Stowe, "Uncle Tom's Cabin" (Third Norton Critical Edition, ed. Elizabeth Ammons, W. W. Norton, 2017. ISBN-13 978-0393283785); Herman Melville, "Moby-Dick" (Norton Critical Edition, ed. Hershel Parker and Harrison Hayford, W. W. Norton, 2001). Books are available for purchase at Labyrinth. Why not support your local bookstore? |
| Comments | This course is open to MA students and PhD candidates.This research seminar relates to my lecture "American Literature Survey II/IV: American Renaisance to Naturalism". |
| Weblink | ADAM |
| Admission requirements | This course is open to MA students and PhD candidates. |
| Course application | Please register on MOnA |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Use of digital media | Online, mandatory |
| Interval | Weekday | Time | Room |
|---|
No dates available. Please contact the lecturer.
| Modules |
Modul: Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master's degree subject: English) Modul: Literatur- und kulturwissenschaftliche Forschung (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul: Literaturgeschichte (Master's degree program: Literary Studies) Modul: Research in Anglophone Literary and Cultural Studies (Master'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 |