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Announcements will be posted to the course blog at http://english368fall2011.blogspot.com ENGL 368.01 [H] The United States has always been a place, or has considered itself to be a place, in which people are free to reinvent themselves. For those who move to another territory or city and assume a new name, become outlaws or are escaping from a criminal past, or disguise themselves to pass as belonging to a race, social class, or gender not their own, identity is a fluid concept, not a fixed one. This course explores the diverse themes, social contexts, and intellectual backgrounds of the American novel from its beginnings in romantic tradition through the realist and naturalist movements of the late nineteenth century. We’ll investigate the novels in terms of their formal properties as well as through social contexts and issues of race, class, and gender, but a larger question we’ll address involves American identity: how does this collection of works, which includes examples of cross-racial and cross-gender disguises,outlaws, artists, idealists, monomaniacs, prostitutes, and murderers, constitute a picture of nineteenth-century America? What concepts of individualism, equality, and justice do these authors portray, and to what extent does the reality of life in the U.S. meet the patriotic rhetoric about its ideas of freedom? Required Textbooks. If purchased at the Bookie, the total cost for all of these books is $75 new and $57 used. Note: the Bookie offers a "rental" version (probably an e-text) of some of these books, but since I have not seen these versions, I cannot guarantee that they will be identical to the print versions ordered for the course. If you are planning to download free online versions, which should be possible for all of these books, that's fine, but you should be aware that online versions may not have all the material. You are still responsible for reading all the material, including assigned essays that are often available only in the print copy of the book, and you will still be tested on the assigned material even if it is not available electronically. Obtaining these materials (possibly from other class members) is your responsibility, since they will not be made available online or on reserve.
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18879 
T, Th 14.50-16.05 
Todd 411