Early American Literature

AY2024/2025 Semester 1

As we read we will consider the formulization of an "American" "Early" "Literature". Whatconstitutes "America" before 1789? Are these texts "literary"? Does our study of these texts require a teleological perspective? What factors determined the canonization of only English language texts from a multi-lingual, multi-colonial, and native population? How has pre-revolutionary America been represented in the past and in our own time? How do these 'secondary' histories determine what of the past gets preserved, celebrated, and canonized? What aspects of early America are forgotten in this process? What can we learn about contemporary American culture from these imaginative representations?