English 358: 19th Century American Transcendentalism
Queens College, Fall 2010
Mondays, 6:30-9:20 pm (Section E6M3A), Razran 304
Instructor: Dominique Zino
Office hours: Wednesdays, 1:30 – 3:00 pm and by appointment
Office location: Klapper Hall 350
Office phone: (718) 997-4638
Course blog: http://qctranscendentalism.qwriting.org/
“But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James I:22)
Transcendentalism is not so much a formal philosophy as it is a cluster of concepts that were put forth by a number of different individuals. While a term like transcendentalism resists a tidy definition, this “uniquely American” way of thinking includes a search for lasting truth, the belief that evidence for such truth can be found in and through the physical world, and the notion that each individual, as “part or particle of God,” has the capacity to experience truth in a directly personal way. In the 21st century, it may be difficult for us to understand just how radical Transcendentalism was considered to be in the decades leading up to the Civil War. These concepts were not only explored by literary figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau but also by educational activists like Bronson Alcott, social reformers like Theodore Parker, and a host of others advocating for reforms like the abolition of slavery and equal rights for women. As Transcendentalism has also had a profound effect on our modern ideas about individuality and democracy, we will conclude the semester by discussing the ways in which it has influenced modern literary, social, and political movements, from the passive resistance of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. to the student-centered pedagogies called for by educational reformers that have transformed classrooms around the country.
You are expected to complete all readings before every class, to “journal” (the 21st century version) outside of class, and to contribute enthusiastically to our weekly discussions…as any self-reliant Transcendentalist would.
Course goals: By the end of this semester each student in this course will
1) Demonstrate an understanding of the circumstances that motivated the rise and spread of Transcendentalism.
2) Formulate both brief and extended written responses to different strains of Transcendentalist thought presented in the course texts.
3) Demonstrate an understanding of the relationships between various minor and major Transcendentalists.
4) Explore, through class discussion and in written responses, the various rhetorical and stylistic features that might contribute to a common Transcendentalist aesthetic.
Course texts:
The American Transcendentalists: Essential Writings (Modern Library Classics, 2006)
ed. Lawrence Buell
ISBN-13: 978-0812975093
Walden, Civil Disobedience, and Other Writings (Norton Critical Edition, 2008)
Henry David Thoreau (ed. William Rossi)
ISBN-13: 978-0393930900
Whitman: Poetry and Prose (Library of America, 1996)
ed. Justin Kaplan
ISBN-10: 1883011353
ISBN-13: 978-1883011352
Selections from the American Transcendentalism Web. Ann Woodlief et al. Virginia Commonwealth University, http://www.vcu.edu/engweb/transcendentalism/
Selected course readings posted on course blog
Requirements and Grading:
1) Regular access to the course blog (http://qctranscendentalism.qwriting.org/): Selected readings as well as announcements and assignments will be posted on this course blog. If you have never visited http://qwriting.org/ please visit the site and create a username and password. This will give you access to our class blog.
2) Weekly blog entries on your personal blog: Once you have signed up for a Qwriting.org account at http://qwriting.org/, you will be able to create a personal blog for use in this course this semester. The blog is yours forever. Treat it well. At the end of this semester, you may want to continue to add to it or adapt it for another purpose. Once you have created your own blog, this blog will be added to the “blog roll” for our course and will be open to the other members of the course and to me. This blog is a space for you to develop your own relationship with the course material and to pose thoughts, questions, and ideas that might enrich your understanding of the readings and would be appropriate to be shared with the rest of the members of this course. Weekly blog posts should be about 500 words (include a word count at the end of your post each week). Your response to the weekly material must by posted by 9 p.m. every Sunday. Consistent lateness with these posts will result in a serious deduction of points from your final course grade.
3) Conversation starters: Every member of the class will sign up for a Monday meeting when they will act as the “conversation starter.” This requirement has two parts: 1) Pose three to five questions at the end of your blog entry for that week that will help us to begin our discussion of the assigned material (again, you must post these questions by 9 p.m. on Sunday night). I will refer to your questions during the lecture the next day. 2) You are responsible for collecting thorough class notes on the day of the class discussion, typing them up, and posting the notes under the “class notes” section on our course blog (http://qctranscendentalism.qwriting.org/).
4) An 8-10 page term paper: In early November, I will distribute a list of topics you may use to select a focus for your final paper. This paper will require citations from primary source material, the use of secondary sources, and a works cited page (not included in the 8-10 page count).
5) A midterm (in class) and a final exam (during exam week): Both of these exams will consist largely of short answer questions and/or essays derived from the assigned materials and our weekly discussions.
Weekly posts on your personal blog, 5 points each x 12 60
Conversation starter 15
Term paper 25
Midterm exam 50
Final exam 50
The final grade is out of 200 points. A total of 186 points or above is an “A.”
Weekly schedule:
Mon, Aug 30: Introduction to Transcendentalism; the poet-priest; the relationship between piety and aesthetics in 19th century New England; log into http://qwriting.org/ using your QC email address to create your blog.
Mon, Sept 6: College closed
Mon, Sept 13: In Buell, Part I, “Anticipations” and Part II, “Manifestos and Definitions”
Mon, Sept 20: In Buell, Part III, “Spiritual Ferment and Religious Reform” and Emerson’s poems, “The Problem” and “Uriel” -- “The Over-Soul” and “Circles” from Essays, First Series (on American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Sept 27: In Buell, Part IV A., “Reform as Individual Transformation versus Reform as Systematic Social Change” and Emerson’s “Experience” from Essays, Second Series (on American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Oct 4: In Buell, Part IV B., “Education” and Emerson’s “History,” “Art” (Essays, First Series) and in Emerson’s Representative Men “Uses of Great Men” and “Goethe; or, the Writer” (on American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Oct 11: College closed
Mon, Oct 18: In Buell, Part IV C. “Feminism” and Margaret Fuller’s Women in the 19th century (on American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Oct 25: Midterm Exam
Mon, Nov 1: In Buell, Part V B. from Thoreau’s Journal, “First Days at Walden” and, in Norton Critical Edition, “Civil Disobedience” and Walden through the end of “Solitude.” Topics for term paper will be distributed.
Mon, Nov 8: Walden through the end.
Mon, Nov 15: In the Norton Critical Edition, Stanley Cavell, “Captivity and Despair in Walden and ‘Civil Disobedience’” -- Robert Sattelmeyer, “The Remaking of Walden” -- H. Daniel Peck, “The Worlding of Walden” -- Lawrence Buell, “Thoreau and the Natural Environment” (choose 1 to respond to for this week’s blog post) and Thoreau’s Ktaadn (on course blog)
Mon, Nov 22: In Buell, Part IV E. “Antislavery” -- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave (on American Transcendentalism Web)
Mon, Nov 29: In Whitman, preface to the first edition of Leaves of Grass (1855), “Song of Myself,” “Out of the Cradle Endlessly Rocking,” “I Sing the Body Electric,” Calamus poems (TBD), “The Wound Dresser,” “When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd”
Mon, Dec 6: Dickinson, poems TBD (on American Transcendentalism Web) -- Lawrence Buell, “Emerson as Anti-Mentor” (on course blog). Term paper due today in class. No exceptions.
Mon, Dec 13: Evan Carton, “The Price of Privilege: ‘Civil Disobedience’ at 150” (Norton Critical Edition), Martin Luther King, “Letter from Birmingham Jail” (on course blog) -- in Buell Part VI, Alcott, “A Transcendental Childhood” – Hawthorne, “Glimpses of Transcendental Concord” -- Channing, “Recollections of a Transcendentalist Insider” -- Theodore Parker, “A Dying Transcendentalist Looks Back” – Henry James, “A Concord Pilgrimage”
Other Important Dates:
September 16th begins unevaluated withdrawal period
Final exam week: Dec. 14th – Dec. 21st. Final exam date TBA.
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