English 200 F: The Uncanny, the Wild, and the Macabre in 19th-C American Literature

This course explores representations of times and places that lurk outside of nationally and culturally ‘settled’ space, whether geographically, socially or psychologically. We will cover a lot of ground, beginning with supernatural tales like “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” moving into the Gothic short stories of Edgar Allan Poe and ultimately winding our way into the trenches of Civil War fiction and into the psychological architecture of feminist studies like “The Yellow Wall-paper” at the turn of the century. We moreover cover a variety of forms and media, including short fiction, novels, poetry and visual art. Emerging from a historical period marked by sustained efforts to consolidate national identity and map the nation’s “manifest” destiny onto the American landscape, these works expose the people, places, and experiences that threaten national notions of civilization.

Please note that this is a “W” (“writing-intensive”) course. In addition to the assigned reading, there will be short, informal writing assignments which build toward two formal (4-6-page) essays. 

Tentative works include: Irving’s “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” and “Rip Van Winkle,” Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” and “A Descent into the Maelström,” selections from Thoreau’s _Walden_, selections from Melville’s _Moby-Dick_, selections from Whitman’s _Leaves of Grass_, Emily Dickinson’s poetry, selections from Frederick Douglass’s _My Bondage and My Freedom_, Bierce’s “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” and “Chickamauga,” Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper,” and Chopin’s ­_The Awakening_