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Academic Year 2005/2006

American Masculinities Through the Victorian Era
HIST 270 FA
Crosslistings:
AMST 268

This interdisciplinary course surveys the history of manhood in America from the seventeenth century through the Oscar Wilde trial of 1895. In addition to reading literature and history, students will analyze and discuss letters and diaries, as well as some of the most controversial paintings and photographs of the nineteenth century. The course will explore the emergence of male homosexuality as a category of self-identification and the history of homo-social relationships more generally, particularly in times of war and in the context of American industrialization.

MAJOR READINGS

Henry Abelove, THE EVANGELIST OF DESIRE
Henry Adams, THE EDUCATION OF HENRY ADAMS
Lord Chesterfield, LETTERS TO HIS SON
Bernard DeVoto, ed., THE JOURNALS OF LEWIS AND CLARK
Benjamin Franklin, AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Jonathan Ned Katz, LOVE STORIES
Herman Melville, BILLY BUDD
Anthony Rotundo, AMERICAN MANHOOD
Darrel Sewall, et al., THOMAS EAKINS
Annette Tapert, ed., BROTHERS' WAR
Walt Whitman, POETRY AND PROSE
Oscar Wilde, DE PROFUNDIS
Graham Robb, STRANGERS: HOMOSEXUAL LOVE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Faithful attendance, two short essays, one in-class presentation, and a longer final paper.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: SBS HIST    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006

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