THE IDEA OF AMERICA FALL 2015 Profs. Joan Rubin and Ezra Tawil Rush Rhees Library, Rm 362 Ams200 / His264 / Eng242 CRN 11935 / 41774 / 47461

WHAT IS AMERICA? A country? A continent? A political ideal? A culture? This course traces the development of ideas about America, from its historical beginnings to our own time, from European fantasies about the New World and its possibilities to the experiences of settlers and citizens facing its realities. We will explore the competing and even contending narratives of America in a wide variety of cultural documents, from orations, sermons and political tracts to novels, poems, photographs, and films. The course is open to all interested students and required for all American Studies majors.

REQUIREMENTS:

1. Class participation (accounts for 15% of your final grade for the semester). A. Attendance at every class meeting is absolutely required. Attendance will be recorded, and more than one unexplained absence will adversely affect your final course grade. If you must miss class for any reason, please let one of us know (via email or in person) as far in advance as possible. B. Close and careful reading of all assigned texts is expected and required, to be completed before the day it appears on the syllabus. You will come to each class prepared to be a careful listener and regular contributor.

2. Three brief (1-2 pp.) “close reading” writing assignments over the course of the semester (each worth 15% of final grade, so, all together 45%). In each of these short assignments, you will perform a close textual interpretation of a single passage from the week’s reading. They may be submitted on the days of your choice, but you must submit them in each calendar month.

3. Final essay (12-15 pages) due Tuesday, December 15th by noon (40% of final grade). Essay will be on a topic of your choice, but you will develop the topics in consultation with us.

BOOKS REQUIRED:

1. Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (1771-1790) 2. Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1900) 3. Langston Hughes, The Big Sea (1940) 4. John Updike, Rabbit, Run (1960) 5. Jean Baudrillard, America (1989) 6. Supplemental readings (indicated below by asterisks) supplied electronically SCHEDULE OF READINGS

Week 1: Course Introduction (9/1)

Week 2: What is America? Three Answers in Three Centuries (9/8)

• Thomas Paine, selections from Common Sense (1776)* • Walt Whitman, Preface to Leaves of Grass (1855)* • Barack Obama, Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (2004)*

Week 3: The Invention of “America” (9/15)

• Christopher Columbus, from “Letter to Luis de Santangel Regarding the First Voyage” (1493)* • Robert Cushman, “Reasons and Considerations Touching the Lawfulness of Removing out of England into the Parts of America (1622)* • John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity” (1629)*

9/22 NO CLASS MEETING

Week 4: Colonial British America (9/29)

•Mary Rowlandson, “A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson” (1682)* •Jill Lepore, “What’s In a Name?” from The Name of War: King Philip’s War and the Origins of American Identity (1999)*

10/5-10/6 FALL TERM BREAK

Week 5: Native America (10/13)

• William Apess, “An Indian’s Looking-Glass for the White Man” (1833)* • William Apess, Eulogy on King Philip (1836)*

Week 6: American Independence, Virtue, and Gender (10/20)

• Benjamin Franklin, The Autobiography, Part One (1771) and Part Two (1784) only • Anonymous, Amelia: or The Faithless Briton; An Original American Novel, Founded Upon Recent Facts (1787)*

2 Week 7: America Ascendant / America Transcendent (10/27)

• Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The American Scholar” (1837)* • Walt Whitman, Democratic Vistas (selections) (1871)*

Week 8: Consumer America (11/3)

Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie (1900)

Week 9: From Americanism to Multiculturalism (11/10)

• Theodore Roosevelt, “True Americanism” (1894)* • Horace Kallen, “Democracy Versus the Melting-Pot: A Study of American Nationality” (1915)* • Randolph Bourne, “Trans-national America” (1916)*

Week 10: Black America and the Harlem Renaissance (11/17)

Langston Hughes, The Big Sea (1940)

11/25-11/29 THANKSGIVING BREAK

Week 11: Visual Culture and the Image of America in the 1930s (11/24)

• selections from James Agee and Walker Evans, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941)* • Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) murals (1930s-40s)* • a documentary film (TBA)

Week 12: Suburban America (12/1)

John Updike, Rabbit, Run (1960)

Week 13: America the Postmodern? (12/8)

Jean Baudrillard, America (1989)

FINAL ESSAY DUE TUESDAY, DECEMBER 15th, 12:00PM

Prof Joan Rubin Prof Ezra Tawil 363 Rush Rhees Library 412 Morey Hall (585) 275-9347 (585) 275-5050 [email protected] [email protected] Office Hours: Office Hours: Wednesdays 2:00-4:00 By appointment only on Tuesdays 11:30-1:30

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