MW 11:00-11:50 631-2859
354 Zink Hall Office
Hours: MW
laura-stevens@utulsa.edu 10-10:50
& by appt.
In this course we will study the role that the written word played in building a transatlantic literary culture that linked the British Isles to the North American colonies up to the American Revolution. We will attend not only to the ways in which Britain shaped the literature of its colonies, but also to the profound influence that texts from and about the Americas exerted on England’s residents. Beginning with travel accounts and letters from America, we will explore the ways in which these reports shaped English readers’ understandings of the world beyond their small island. We will pay particular attention to women’s writing and to writing about women. Other central topics will include depictions of African slaves and American Indians, religious controversy, circum-Atlantic identity amidst war, and the sentimental novel. We will study scholarly articles alongside primary texts, including original documents in the McFarlin library’s special collections. Requirements include class participation, weekly response papers, a mid-term examination, a final examination, and a final paper.
Requirements and Course Grade:
Your final grade will include eight separate grades, of varying weight:
Attendance: 10%
Class participation: 10%
Weekly Response Papers: 10%
Mid-term exam: 20%
Final exam: 20%
Final Paper: 30%
Attendance, Lateness, and Class Participation: This is a small, seminar-style course, so it is very important that you attend class regularly and participate actively in discussions. It also is important you arrive before class begins, as late arrivals not only miss important announcements, but also disturb the entire class. For your attendance grade, I will begin by giving you each 100 points, and subtracting 10 points for every unexcused absence. If you are late for class (that is, if you arrive after I have taken attendance), I will deduct 3 points from your attendance grade. I also will require your attendance at supplementary lectures and events, although since these events fall outside the scheduled class I will forgive one absence from these events without penalty.
I will excuse absences only for the following reasons:
1. Serious illness (with a doctor’s note)
2. family emergencies
3. Religious holidays
4. Required participation in university athletic events or other outings excused by the university (with a note from your coach, your team’s academic advisor, or the dean)
5. Hazardous weather conditions.
Your class participation grade necessarily will be subjective, based on my impression of how valuable your contributions were to the class. This grade will reflect my opinion of how valuable your contributions in class discussion have been to your and your classmates’ education. I will consider the quality as well as the quantity of your contributions, and I will weigh your willingness to listen to fellow classmates as well as your willingness to speak. Included in this grade will be a 5-10 minute presentation that you will each give once during the term, on the class’s reading for that day.
Late Work: I will deduct a third of a letter grade for every day that a paper is late, for up to one week. If a paper is more than three days late it will receive a failing grade. Students with unexcused absences will not have the option of making up quizzes, and a grade of zero will be averaged into their final grade.
Examinations: The Mid-Term exam will involve a mix of essay questions, straightforward factual questions, and detailed quotation identifications (that is, I present you with a quotation, you identify the text from which it comes and explain its larger significance.) The final exam will be a take-home, open-book exam comprised entirely of essay questions. I will give you more information about both exams as the semester progresses. If you attend class regularly, take careful notes, and keep up with the reading, these tests should be quite easy.
Response Papers: During the semester you will write 6 response papers of 2-3 pages (200-450 words) on the course readings. These papers should be typed and double-spaced. You will bring them to class to use as a basis for discussion, and you will turn these papers in to me at the end of class. I have divided you in half alphabetically, so that you will each turn in one response paper every other week, starting the third week of class. These response papers should not be summaries of the reading. They should ask questions and make speculations about the course readings, telling me what you found interesting and why. I will comment on and grade these papers, and at the end of the term I will average the highest five of these grades to factor into your final semester grade. For those of you who have taken classes with me before please note that I will grade these papers more rigorously than I have in the past, because I want to use this occasion to prepare you to write your final paper.
Final Paper: The most important component of your semester grade will be your final paper. This paper should be 10-12 pages (2000-3000 words) long, double-spaced and typed. It should perform a close reading of one or two texts from the syllabus and incorporate one (perhaps two) secondary scholarly article(s) or book(s). The paper should engage critically with both the primary literary and secondary scholarly texts. I will set some intermediate deadlines during the term for a paper proposal and a bibliography, in order to encourage you to work ahead on this project. You may also consider choosing to work with a text in special collections. If you choose this option, I may be willing to exempt you from reading a secondary literary source. I will set some intermediate deadlines during the term for a paper proposal and a bibliography, in order to encourage you to work ahead on this project. You may also consider choosing to work with a text in special collections. If you choose this option, I may be willing to exempt you from reading a secondary literary source.
Special Needs:
Students with disabilities should contact the Center for Student Academic Support to self-identify their needs in order to facilitate their rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Center is located in Holmes Student Center Room 59. All students are encouraged to familiarize themselves with and take advantage of services provided by the Center for Student Academic Support such as tutoring, academic counseling, and developing study skills. The Center provides confidential consultations to any student with academic concerns as well as to students with disabilities.
Plagiarism and Academic Integrity:
I expect all students in this class to adhere to the standards of academic integrity as defined in the University of Tulsa’s Student Handbook. If I find any evidence that a student has cheated on an examination or plagiarized a paper, I will fail the particular assignment immediately. I will then forward the case to my department Chair and college Dean for further disciplinary action. Most likely I will give the student a failing grade for the semester and recommend suspension from the university.
The handbook of the Modern Language Association defines plagiarism as follows: “Derived from the Latin word plagiarus (“kidnapper”), plagiarism refers to a form of cheating that has been defined as the false assumption of authorship: the wrongful act of taking the product of another person’s mind, and presenting it as one’s own (Alexander Lindey, Plagiarism and Originality [New York: Harper, 1952]2). To use another person’s ideas or expressions in your writing without acknowledging the source is to plagiarize” (Joseph Gibaldi, MLA Handbook, 4th ed., [New York: MLA, 1995]26).
It often is difficult to determine where the line is between being influenced by a text or person, and taking words or ideas from that text or person. Confusion can arise easily when one is doing extensive research or collaborating with other people. If you have any questions about whether or not you should give credit to a source in your work, I suggest that you always cite that source to be safe. Please also see me if you are uncertain about whether or how to cite a course, or consult the Modern Language Association Handbook.
Please note that as part of a general effort to combat plagiarism I will be submitting randomly selected papers from all of my classes to a plagiarism detection service. I also will be using this service to screen any paper that I suspect is plagiarized.
Finally, while not technically a form of plagiarism I do consider it a breach of academic integrity for a student to submit the same paper for credit in more than one class. I will penalize students who dual-submit their work as I see fit.
Office Hours, and Contacting Me:
I will be available to meet with students from 10:00 to 10:50 on Mondays and Wednesdays, and I will set up additional office hours before examinations and paper deadlines. If my office hours conflict with your schedule I will be happy to make an appointment with you at another time.
The best way to contact me outside of office hours is through email, which I try to check daily. My email address is laura-stevens@utulsa.edu. My mailbox is in the main office of the English department, 365 Zink Hall. You may also leave me voice mail or call my office at 631-2859, but if you are calling me over a holiday keep in mind that these messages will be erased automatically after 3 days.
Course Texts:
David Armitage and Michael J.
Braddick, eds., The British Atlantic World, 1500-1800 (Palgrave)
Daniel Defoe, The Strange
and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (Norton)
Olaudah Equiano, The
Interesting Narrative and Other Writings, ed. Vincent Carretta
(Penguin)
Jehlen and Warner, eds. English
Literatures of America (Routledge)
Samuel Richardson, Pamela,
Or, Virtue Rewarded, ed. Sabor
(Penguin)
Susanna Rowson, Charlotte
Temple, ed. Cathy N. Davidson
(Oxford)
Unca Eliza Winkfield, The
Female American, ed. Michelle Burnham
(Broadview)
Recommended:
Ned C. Landsman, From
Colonials to Provincials: American Thought and Culture, 1680-1760 (Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press, 1997). isbn 0-8014-8701-3
Please note that this
schedule may be subject to revision
M 8/25 Introduction
In
Class: read Milton, Paradise Lost,
J&W, 579-80 (hand-out)
W 8/27 Images of America:
Jehlen
and Warner: General Introduction, xvii-xxiii
“The Expansion of Europe,”
J&W, 3-6
Marco
Polo, from The Travels of Marco Polo, 7-8
Sir
John Mandeville, from The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, 8-10
Columbus,
“letter to the King and Queen of Castile,” 11-17
F 8/29 Amerigo Vespucci,
“letter to Pier Soderini,” 17-28
“Nahuatl
Accounts of the Spanish conquest,” 30-35
James
Axtell, “The Invasion Within,” hand-out
M 9/1 Labor Day, no classes
W 9/3 Europe Imagining
America:
Jehlen
and Warner: “Learning to Say ‘America’ in English,”
39-41
“The
Great Chronicle of London,” 42
“The
first Printed Account of America in English,” 43-44
Thomas
More, Utopia, 44-46
George
Best, from A True Discourse, 55-58
Elizabeth
Mancke, “Empire and State,” A&B, 175-95
F 9/5 Thomas Hariot, A
Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia,
Sir
Walter Ralegh, from The Discovery of the Large, Rich and Bewtiful Empire
of Guiana, 91-95
M 9/8 A&B, Preface and
Introduction
Armitage,
“Three Concepts of Atlantic History,” A&B, 11-30
Five
letters from America, W&J, 122-28
W 9/10 Visit to Special
Collections
F 9/12 The Legacy of
Puritanism:
“Seventeenth-Century
America: The Trials of Puritanism,” J&W, 429-33
John
Winthrop, “A Modell of Christian Charity,” J&W, 151-59
Samuel
Danforth, “A Brief Recognition of New-England’s Errand into the
Wilderness,” J&W, 461-74
M 9/15 Converting the
Other:
Thomas
Shepard, “A Visit to John Eliot’s Indian Mission,” J&W,
316-7
John
Eliot, “Indians and imps,” J&W, 318-9
Roger
Williams, “A Key into the Language of America,” J&W, 494-97
W 9/17 Women and America:
Margaret
Cavendish, from A Description of a New World, Norton 1765-70 (and
hand-out)
M 9/22 Bacon’s
Rebellion: War in the Transatlantic arena
Nathanial
Bacon, Manifesto, 1676, in J&W, 224-27
Robert
Beverly, from History and Present State of Virginia, in J&W, 227-33
Aphra
Behn, The Widow Ranter in J&W,
233-292, Act 1 only
Keith
Wrightson, “Class,” A&B, 133-53
W 9/24 Aphra Behn, The
Widow Ranter in J&W, 233-292 Acts
2 and 3
Eliga
H. Gould, “Revolution and Counter-Revolution,” A&B, 196-213
F 9/26 Aphra Behn, The
Widow Ranter in J&W, 233-292 Acts
4 and 5
M 9/29 Castaways in
America, Part 1:
Daniel
Defoe, Robinson Crusoe
W 10/1 Daniel Defoe, Robinson
Crusoe
Th 10/2 Required
Attendance at Lecture, Prof. Julie Ellison,
'For Each Living Reader, A Living Poet; For Each Living Poet, A Living Reader': Democratic Values and The Poetry Day Movement,” McFarlin Library, 7:30 p.m.
F 10/3 Visit from Prof. Julie
Ellison
read
introduction to Cato’s Tears,
hand-out
Richard
Steele, The Spectator, No. 11,
W&J, 954-57
M 10/6 Daniel Defoe, Robinson
Crusoe
W 10/8 Daniel Defoe, Robinson
Crusoe
F 10/10 Mid-Term
Examination
M 10/13 Castaways in
America, Part 2:
Winkfield,
The Female American
W 10/15 Winkfield, The
Female American
F 10/17 Winkfield, The
Female American
M 10/20 Captivity and the
Sentimental Novel:
Rowlandson,
The Soveraignty and Goodness of God
W 10/22 Richardson, Pamela
Armstrong and Tennenhouse, hand-out
F 10/24 No Class
M 10/27 Richardson, Pamela
Burnham,
hand-out
W 10/29 Richardson, Pamela
F 10/31 The Great
Awakening
Jonathan
Edwards, “sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” W&J, 616-27
David
Brainerd, Journal, J&W, 639-42
Samson
Occom, A Sermon, J&W, 643-58
possible
hand-outs
M 11/3 The West Indies
Richard
Ligon, from A True and Exact history of the Island of Barbados, W&J,
201-218
W 11/5 Slavery and
Sympathy:
Samuel Sewall, The Selling of Joseph, J&W, 817-20
Christopher
L. Brown, “The Politics of Slavery,” A&B, 214-32
Anonymous,
from “Jamaica,” 1087
The
Rector of St. John’s, Nevis, “The Field Negroe,” 1088
Sarah Wentworth Morton, “The African
Chief,” 1102
Joyce
E. Chaplin, “Race,” A&B, 154-74
M 11/10 Writing Revolution
Thomas
Pownall, The Administration of the Colonies of America, J&W, 836
Samuel
Johnson, Taxation no Tyrrany,
J&W, 849
Edmund
Burke, Speech of Edmund Burke,
J&W, 85-51
Benjamin
Franklin, “An Edict by the King of Prussia,” W7J, 845-49
W 11/12 Thomas Jefferson, A
Declaration, J&W, 858-62
Thomas
Paine, The American Crisis,
J&W, 868-73
James
Madison, The Federalist, #10,
J&W, 885-90
F 11/14 Women and
Revolution
Thomas
Paine, “An Occasional Letter on the Female Sex,” J&W, 865-7
Judith
Sargent Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes,” J&W, 874-79
Anonymous,
“The Lady’s Complaint,” J&W, 1050
Milcah
Martha Moore, “The Female Patriots,” J&W, 1072
“The
Indian Burying Ground,” J&W, 1107
W 11/19 Rowson, Charlotte
Temple
F 11/21 Rowson, Charlotte
Temple
11/24-11/28 Thanksgiving
Recess
M 12/1 J.H. Elliott, “Afterword: Atlantic History: A Circumnavigation,”
A&B, 233-49
Equiano,
Introduction, ch. 1, 2
If you would like me to
read and comment on the rough draft of your final paper please turn it in to me
by today.
W 12/3 Equiano ch. 3-6
F 12/5 Equiano, ch. 7-9
M 12/8 Equiano, ch. 10-12
Last Day of Classes
Your final examination will be distributed over email on December 11, and will be due back to me on Monday, December 15, at 12:00 noon, in my mailbox, 365 Zink.