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Academic Year 2000/2001
The Politics of Sentiment
HIST 326 FA
This seminar examines the ways in which sentimental fictions mapped the terrain of social reform in 19th-century America and explores the relationship between narratives grounded in a sentimental aesthetic--one gendered
feminine and often produced by
women--and the transformation of the radical politics of the antebellum era into the genteel reforms of late Victorianism. Efforts by novelists to reshape popular attitudes and influence public policy toward
disadvantaged groups will be juxtaposed to an
analysis of the cultural empowerment that the production of such narratives conferred upon both writers and genteel readers.
MAJOR READINGS
Richard Bushman, THE REFINEMENT OF AMERICA Hazel Carby, RECONSTRUCTING WOMANHOOD Lydia Maria Child, HOBOMOK & OTHER WRITINGS ON INDIANS Frances E. W. Harper, IOLA LEROY Helen Hunt Jackson, RAMONA Harriet
Jacobs, INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE
GIRL Peggy Pascoe, RELATIONS OF RESCUE Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, THE SILENT PARTNER Samuels, Shirley, ed., THE CULTURE OF SENTIMENT Harriet Beecher Stowe, UNCLE TOM'S CABIN Course book* is available from Atticus
Optional: Cathy Davidson,
REVOLUTION AND THE WORD
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Students will be required to keep a journal and produce a substantial research paper. A brief class presentation as well as regular participation in discussion will be expected of each student.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS
Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed
Drop/Add form to the Registrar's
Office.
COURSE FORMAT:
Lecture
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level:
UGRD
Credit:
1
Gen Ed Area Dept:
NONE
Grading Mode:
Graded
Prerequisites:
NONE
Links to Web Resources For This Course.
Last Updated on MAR-26-2001
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Copyright Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, 06459
