Spring 2009 Advance Course Information

This information effective for spring 2009. Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.

American Studies

[ AMST-180 ]

180. US Culture and Literature 1877-1918

Instructor: Katie Woolsey
E-Mail: kwoolsey@ucsc.edu

Class Meetings: Tuesday and Thursday, Time TBD

Course Description

This course is an in-depth look at developments in American culture and society during the period that spans the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.  This period, from the end of Reconstruction to the beginning of WWI, was marked by extremely rapid changes in the ways in which Americans experienced and represented their daily life.  Just a few of the changes in this period were brought by accelerated industrialization, the autonomy of the banking sector, the rise of the modern metropolis with its skyscrapers and tenements, and the birth of such technologies as the cinema, the automobile, and the modern factory.

The focus in this course will be on how these changes impacted American society and culture.  This era is typically split into two periods.  First is The Gilded Age, from roughly 1877-1890, the period of industrial capitalism, political corruption, rapid economic growth and unbridled excess.  Then follows The Progressive Era, from roughly 1890-1914, a period of public debate on social reform, labor issues, and populist politics.  In reality, however, the concerns and practices of these two periods spilled over into each other.  In this course, we will look closely at how this era was represented and experienced in its own time, mainly through the literature of the era: we will read major novels that reflect a range of the period’s concerns.  The historical backbone of this course will be provided by two historical texts, each with its own focus on the period: Thomas Schlereth’s Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life 1876-1915 provides an in-depth look at the rapid changes Americans experienced in their private lives; Nell Irvin Painter’s Standing at Armageddon: The United States 1877-1919 looks at this period more in terms of public issues and changes in labor and politics.  Lectures and discussions will elucidate connections between these historical conditions and the cultural products that arose from and reflected them.

Required Texts      

• Thomas J. Schlereth, Victorian America: Transformations in Everyday Life 1876-1915
• Nell Irvin Painter, Standing at Armageddon: The United States 1877-1919
• Henry James, The Bostonians (1885)
• Edward Bellamy, Looking Backward, 2000-1887 (1888)
• William Dean Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890)
• Frank Norris, McTeague (1899)
• Paul Lawrence Dunbar, The Sport of the Gods (1902)
• Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth (1905)
• Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes (1912)

Course Format

This course is a seminar and our meetings will be split between lecture and discussion.

We will also watch some early American film, and there will be three mandatory film screenings during the quarter, time and place TBD.

Course Requirements

Attendance at all class meetings is required.  More than three unexcused absences may be grounds for failing the course.  Students are expected to come to each class having read fully the materials listed for that meeting and prepared to discuss them.  Regular reading quizzes will be given to ensure that students stay on track with the reading. 

Students will write short (1-2 page) weekly response papers, as well as two longer, formal essays (due dates are listed in the course schedule below).  There will be a total of 6 response papers possible, as no response will be required during weeks when formal essays are due.  Students may opt out of response papers for two weeks of their choosing; a total of FOUR response papers will be required.  The two formal essays are mandatory.  Specific assignments and prompts will be distributed and discussed in class.

Grading Breakdown:

Attendance, Participation, and Quizzes: 15%
4 Response Papers: 40%
First Formal Essay: 20%
Second Formal Essay: 25%

Schedule

Week One

Tues 3/31: Course introduction
Overview: Conditions of mid-19th century life; Reconstruction; the Victorian Era; background to the Gilded Age
In class: short films, “Annabelle Dances” (1894-7), “Beginning of a Skyscraper” (1902)

Thurs 4/2:
Reading: Victorian America: “Introduction” and “Prologue: Centennial Exposition,
Philadelphia, 1876”
Standing at Armageddon: “Preface” and “Introduction”
The Bostonians: Chapters I-VI

Week Two

Tues 4/7:
Reading: The Bostonians: through Chapter XXI, Victorian America: Chapter 1, “Moving”
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 1, “The Tocsin Sounds”

Thurs 4/9:
NO CLASS MEETING

Week Three

Tues 4/14:
Reading: The Bostonians: through end
Victorian America: Chapter 2, “Working”
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 2, “The Great Upheaval”

Thurs 4/16:
Reading: Looking Backward: through Chapter XII
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 3, “Remedies”
** Response paper due in class

Week Four

Tues 4/21:
Reading: Looking Backward: through end
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 4, “The Depression of the 1890s”

Thurs 4/23:
Reading: A Hazard of New Fortunes: Part First
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 5, “The White Man’s Burden”
**Response paper due in class
Essay 1 prompts distributed in class (4-5 page paper, due Thursday, May 7th)

Week Five

Tues 4/28:
Reading: A Hazard of New Fortunes: Part Second
Victorian America: Chapter 3, “Housing”

Thurs 4/30:
Reading: A Hazard of New Fortunes: Part Third
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 6, “Prosperity”
**Response paper due in class

Week Six

Tues 5/5:
Reading: A Hazard of New Fortunes: through end
Victorian America: Chapter 4, “Consuming”

Thurs 5/7:
Reading: McTeague: through Chapter 8
Victorian America: “Interlogue: World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893”
**1st essay due in class

Week Seven

Tues 5/12:
Reading: McTeague: through end
Victorian America: Chapter 5, “Communicating”
Essay 2 prompts distributed (6-7 page paper, due at last class meeting)

Thurs 5/14:
Reading: The Sport of the Gods
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 7, “Race and Disfranchisement”
**Response paper due in class

Week Eight

Tues 5/19:
Reading: The House of Mirth: through Book I, Chapter IX
Victorian America: Chapter 6, “Playing”
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 8, “Woman Suffrage and Women Workers”

Thurs 5/21:
Reading: The House of Mirth: through Book II, Chapter III
Victorian America: Chapter 7, “Striving”
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 9, “The Progressive Era”
**Response paper due in class

Week Nine

Tues 5/26:
Reading: The House of Mirth: through end
Victorian America: Chapter 8, “Living and Dying”
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 10, “Wars”

Thurs 5/28:
Reading: Tarzan of the Apes: through Chapter 14
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 11, “The European War Takes Over”
**Response paper due in class

Week Ten

Tues 6/2:
Reading: Tarzan of the Apes: through end
Standing at Armageddon: Chapter 12, “The Great Unrest”

Thurs 6/4: Course Wrap-Up
Reading: Victorian America: “Epilogue: Panama-Pacific Exposition, San Francisco,
1915”
Standing at Armageddon: Epilogue
**2nd essay due in class

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