18th-Century Fiction (344-0-20)

Topic

Seduction, Sensation, & Passion in Early Am Lit

Instructors

Ilana Vine Larkin

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 2-335: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

Seduction, Sensation, and Passion in Early American Literature

Despite the seeming rationality of the Enlightenment, early American literature was haunted by tales of seduction, sensation, and captivity. Early American writers redeployed gothic imagery to reflect on the unique anxieties of Puritanism, the frontier, the social instability of popular democracy, and the cultural guilt of chattel slavery and Indigenous genocide. How did early American writers' tales of passion and captivity map onto questions of democracy, citizenship, and agency? In this class, we will study the sensational works of early American literature, from a tale of a fallen woman seduced by an unscrupulous British officer in Charlotte Temple to a novel about a man driven to murder after hearing supernatural voices in Charles Brockden Brown's Wieland. Bringing to bear the critical lenses of ecocriticism, gender and sexuality, and race, to name only a few, we will examine how early American writers grappled with their relationships to the environment, meditated on the perils and failures of democracy, and tried to imagine new forms of political activism. We will also consider modern interpretations of early America, from the 2015 horror film The Witch to the Broadway smash hit Hamilton.

Class Materials (Required)

Possible texts include: Charlotte Temple by Susannah Rowson, Wieland by Charles Brockden Brown, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving, selected poetry by Phillis Wheatley and Jane Johnston Schoolcraft, and screenings of Hamilton and The Witch.

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area