Inventing America

Module overview

This module studies writing and visual representation in the early years of the republic of the United States. Focusing on the period from shortly before the American Revolution to the early years of the nineteenth century, this module will introduce students to debates about, and the experience of, the United States of America.

Aims and Objectives

Learning Outcomes

Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

draw upon the different kinds of understanding generated by a range of literary and non-literary texts
use electronic sources and a variety of library holdings effectively
contrast different historical, political and theoretical models employed by eighteenth-century and modern writers when engaging with the American Revolution and the new nation
read a variety of texts in an historically relevant way
analyse the pressures and influences which shaped the construction of the American republic
make use of contemporary critical writing to inform your thinking about the issues raised in the module.

Knowledge and Understanding

Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:

the relation between race, nation, slavery and liberty in this early period of US history
the construction and experience of landscape
the key critical approaches, both historically-specific and trans-historical, that have been applied to the study of early US literature
the creation and development of the United States, from British colony to independent republic
the role of gender in the construction of early American identities
the distinctions between a range of literary, visual and historical sources
the role of literature and the arts in this process

Transferable and Generic Skills

Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:

develop analysis and discussion based on a range of sources, both published and electronic
employ research skills and initiative in identifying additional relevant source material.

Learning and Teaching

Teaching and learning methods

• Lectures • Tutor-led seminars • Small group work within seminars • Individual research opportunities • One to one tuition around assessment and feedback

Study time
Type	Hours
Seminar	22
Completion of assessment task	88
Wider reading or practice	24
Lecture	22
Follow-up work	24
Preparation for scheduled sessions	120
Total study time	300

Resources & Reading list

Textbooks

Eberwein, Jane Donahue (ed.) (1986). Early American Poetry: Selections from Bradstreet, Taylor, Dwight, Frenea & Bryant. Univ. of Wisconsin Press.

Wood , Gordon S. (2009). Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789-1815. Oxford: OUP.

Lawson-Peebles, Robert (1988). Landscape and written expression in revolutionary America : the world turned upside down. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hewitt ,Elizabeth (2004). Correspondence and American literature, 1770-1865. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Paul Giles (2001). Transatlantic Insurrections: British Culture and the Formation of American Literature, 1760-1860. Philadelphia: Universiry of Pennsylvania Press.

Shields, David S. (1990). Oracles of Empire: Poetry, Politics, and Commerce in British America, 1690-1750. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Carla Mulford, ed (2001). Early American Writings. Oxford.

Andrews, William L. et al (ed.) (1991). Journeys in New Worlds: Early American Women's Narratives. Univ. of Wisconsin Press.

Warner, Michael (1992). The Letters of the Republic: Publication and the Public Sphere in Eighteenth-Century America. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard UP.

Armstrong, Nancy, and Leonard Tennenhouse (1992). The Imaginary Puritan : Literature, Intellectual Labor, and the Origins of Personal Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Warner, William (2013). Protocols of Liberty: Communication Innovation and the American Revolution. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Samuels, Shirley (1996). Romances of the Republic : Women, the Family, and Violence in the literature of the early American nation. New York: Oxford University Press.

Tennenhouse, Leonard (2007). The importance of feeling English: American literature and the British diaspora, 1750-1850. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Schweitzer, Ivy (2006). Perfecting friendship : politics and affiliation in early American literature. University of North Carolina Press.

Dorothy Z. Baker (2007). America's Gothic Fiction : The Legacy of Magnalia Christi Americana. Ohio State University Press.

Assessment

Summative

This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Essay	70%
Critical Analysis	30%

Referral

This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Resubmit assessments	100%

Repeat

An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.

Breakdown
Method	Percentage contribution
Assessment tasks	100%

Repeat Information

Repeat type: Internal & External