Engl 60503, Seminar in Early American Literature:
Magazines of Wonder: Early National Periodical Culture, 1770-1830
Tuesday, 5:00-7:40 PM, Reed 125
What is inside the American Magazine of Wonders, or The American Ladies Magazine?
This seminar will examine early American magazines published between 1770 and 1830. Using several remarkable databases, such as the American Periodical Series, Early American Imprints, and America’s Early Newspapers, students will be asked to explore both the general rise of magazines in early national print culture but also specific self-developed research topics focused on a specific periodical. According to the APS, there were 656 periodicals published in the US from 1770 to 1830; there were over 500 newspapers published during the same period; and the Early American Imprint series contains over 100,000 titles published by American printers. Students will be encouraged to explore these new resources, and readings each week will focus on a specific periodical, time, and region. Secondary readings will be taken from Davidson, Revolution and the Word; Starr, The Creation of the Media, and Gross and Kelley’s An Extensive Republic (among others). General topics to be examined will be the rise of professional of authorship, the growth of a literary marketplace, the rise of discourse communities, and the revolutionary developments of early national print culture.
Since many of primary texts will be entirely unknown, seminar participants will be encouraged to conduct original research concerning the cultural and historical contexts of their periodicals.
08/23
introduction.
08/30
The Creation of the Media, 1-46
Search area: novels, novel reading, pernicious books
09/06
The Creation of the Media, 47-111
Search area: female education, female character, equality of the sexes
09/13
The Creation of the Media, 113-150
Search area: marriage, husbands and wives, husband, wife, seduction, seduced
09/20
Revolution and the Word, 3-56
Search area: Indians, savage Indians, savages, Indian captivity, Indian massacre, heathens
09/27
Revolution and the Word, 59-100
Slavery, slave, abolition, African, race, “Negroes”
10/04
Revolution and the Word, 101-150
Barbary coast, Barbary captivity, Barbary pirates, Barbary corsairs
10/11
Fall Break
10/18
An Extensive Republic, 1-52
Search area: Mohammed (Mohamed), Mohammedans, Islam, Arabians, Turks
10/25
An Extensive Republic, 58-74
Search area: devils, evils spirits, witches, witchcraft, ghosts
11/01
An Extensive Republic, 389-409
Search area: execution[s], murderer[s], robbers, thieves, highwaymen
11/08
An Extensive Republic, 350-363
Search area: pirates, piracy, Cuba
11/15
An Extensive Republic, 364-384
Search area: angels, miracles, god’s providence, divine providence, remarkable providence
11/22
An Extensive Republic, 440-448
Search area: liberty, equality, republicanism, democracy
11/29
Final Presentations
12/06
Final Presentations
Assigned Texts:
Revolution and the Word
The Creation of the Media: The Political Origins of Modern Communications
An Extensive Republic: Print Culture, and Society in the New Nation, 1790-1840
Seminar participants will be asked to keep a weekly blog of their readings and responses, deliver two seminar presentations (one on a secondary text and one on their research), prepare a weekly “search area” text, write an overview of a periodical (or part of a periodical), and write a final critical self-assessment on their semester’s work.
1) Blogging: As a means of commenting on their readings, seminar participants are required to keep an online journal or weblog. With the help of technology at Blogger (http://www.blogger.com), students will create their own web log, or “blog,” and keep an electronic journal of their experiences as a reader. Students will be expected to write a one- to two-page reflection describing—and examining--their reading experiences. These responses are not intended as an in-depth literary analysis that critically analyzes the texts but more general reflections of what the act of reading was like. Students are welcome to use their blog to comment any subject, academic and non-academic, but please remember that a blog is not a personal—and private—diary.
Blogging is a less formal form of writing than an essay, and thus blogs are a good forum to reflect, analyze, vent, explore, and consider. But blogs are also a more public form of writing and, because of the technology, an excellent way of sharing, collaborating, and responding. In addition to posting on their own blogs, students will also be required to post brief responses to a minimum of 8 other seminar blogs throughout the semester. You are welcome to comment on any of the other course blogs, but please vary the blogs you respond to. Please do not respond to the same blog (and person).
Please keep in mind that blogs are a public forum, accessible to anyone who has internet access, so please do not post anything that you would not share with the classroom and internet communities.
We will use our course blogs as an open dialogue to reflect on our experiences as readers.
2) Lead Respondent Assignment: Throughout the semester students will be asked to help lead our discussions, and these discussion-leader assignments may be undertaken individually or in twos. Each individual or pair will choose a specific seminar day and will be expected to make a presentation on the primary text[s] assigned for that day. These presentations should include summaries of significant material and an analysis of relevant themes, issues, and topics. These presentations should be informative and but also engaging.
3) Search Area Discoveries: Each class will have a specific “search area,” and seminar participants are required to make use of the APS (or possibly AEN) database to search within the designated area to discover an article or entry that they think is particularly interesting and/or significant. During the seminar discussions they must present and discuss what they discovered and explain why they thought it was interesting and/or relevant.
4) Periodical Survey and Final Presentation: By the end of the semester seminar participants will be asked to submit an overview of one periodical (or part of a periodical). These overviews are intended as a survey of the magazine’s content, context, and intended readership and should be roughly 10 pages. Research concerning the printers, publishers, editors, and writers is encouraged. During the final two seminars each participant will have 15 minutes to present her or his periodical to the class.
Dan Williams
TCU Press (3000 Sandage), 817-257-5907
Reed 414D, 817-257-6250
d.e.williams@tcu.edu
Office Hours: Friday, 10-12 AM, and by appointment
Additional Requirements: patience, a sense of humor, and an appreciation of irony
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