ENGL 353 - American Literature 1825-65: “To Write Like an American”

Semester Offered: Second Semester
Credits (Range): 4 Hours
Attribute: 4 HU, CD, WR

Melville’s phrase captures a major concern of American writers during the antebellum period: the creation of a distinctly American literature. Directly or indirectly, many writers of the era engaged with “writing like an American” – Melville, Emerson, Whitman, Douglass, Jacobs among them – while a few, notably Poe, repudiated the very idea. We’ll read work by the writers I’ve listed and by others as we consider what “writing like an American” entailed during the formative era in American culture and history. American, Diversity, 1700-1900. Enrollment Limit: 25.
Instructor: S. Zagarell
Prerequisites & Notes
Prerequisite: Two 200-level courses, including at least one Gateway course; or three 200-level courses.