ENGL405: The American Renaissance

Upper-level literature survey of the American Renaissance, the mid-nineteenth-century flowering of writing in the United States. Units set the period in its historical context and then trace continuity and change in poetic form, the invention of the short story, the development of the novel and its forms, the tension between nature and technology in shaping American identity, the question of women's place in society, and the slavery controversy and abolitionist literature. Includes a study guide and a certificate final exam, and suits students with prior experience reading and analyzing literary texts.