Legacy Course Catalog
ENGL 414B - 19th Century New England Literary Journeys
| Effectivity: | 01/07/2008 - 05/03/2008 @ Purdue West Lafayette Traditional |
|---|---|
| Credits: | 3 |
| Instructional Types: | Lec |
| Usually Offered: | fal spr sum |
| Short Title: | 19C N Englnd Lit Jrny |
| Description: | This course explores texts by four major nineteenth-century authors-two New Englanders and two "New Englanders by association"-that depict journeys and quests: physical, metaphysical, spiritual, and/or epistemological. These journeys take place in a variety of historical contexts and address evolving American cultural beliefs about gender, race, the self, politics, religion, society, New England, the nation, imperialism, reform, economics, and the relations among humans and between humans and the natural world. The first text is Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, arguably the greatest novel ever written in English. Moby-Dick is a primer in multiculturalism; a study in epistemology; an epic adventure story; a Bildungsroman; a proletarian novel; a psychological thriller; a scathing critique of New England/American religion, society, economics, and politics; a celebration of democracy and American ideals; a quest for meaning; and a profound exploration of the natural world. We will then explore the poetry of Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, the two greatest and most influential poets of the past two centuries. Between them, the would-be national bard and the intensely private poet mapped out an aesthetics that covered the spectrum of poetic possibility. Their poems-and spiritual quests-engage and represent all of the cultural concerns of the course, especially in the ways these are gendered. The final text in the course is Sarah Orne Jewett's The Country of the Pointed Firs, the finest achievement of New England regionalism, which explores the potentialities of a woman-centered society in a realistic utopian setting, a society in which gender, as such, has ceased to matter. |
| School: | College Of Liberal Arts |
| Department: | English |
| Credit By Exam: | NO |
| Repeatable Flag: | YES |
| Max Repeatable Credits: | 6.00 |
| Temporary Flag: | NO |
| Full Time Privilege Flag: | NO |
| Honors Flag: | NO |
| Variable Title Flag: | YES |
Fall 2007 *** indicates the course was still an active course and was transferred to the Banner Catalog effective Spring 2008. This course was not expired Fall 2007.
