The American Novel The 19th Century
Prof. Mohr
This lecture course deals with the long first century of the American Novel. It begins in the late 18th century by importing novels (for readers), traditions and narrative patterns (for writers) from Europe: Sentimentalism, Gothicism – as horror (Radcliffe, Lewis) or as political critique (Godwin). The first outstandig American voices such as CH. B. Brown, Washington Irving, John Neale, J. F. Cooper, N. Hawthorne will, of course, be discussed. From there we will proceed to highlights such as E. A. Poe and H. Melville to the writers of Realism (e. g. DeForest, Crane). We will not forget female voices, such as H. B. Stowe, S. O. Jewett, K. Chopin, and Black writers (Douglass, Chesnutt etc.). At the end of the course stands Henry James making his impressive appearance as Modernist.
Voraussetzungen:
Kenntnisse der englischen Sprache