American Literature 1865-1914 (NAAL, Volume C) -- Short Papers

Required: Read the historical and literary-historical background material on pages 3-16, and then write one page, word-processed and double-spaced (10-, 11-, or 12-point font), summarizing what you consider to be the most important information found in this section.  For this summary, you do not have to cover everything; instead, focus on those parts that are most essential or interesting to you.

Optional Extra Credit: Read a selection (at least 5 pages long) by one writer not listed on the course reading schedule, and then write one page, word-processed and double-spaced (10-, 11-, or 12-point font), briefly summarizing and then mostly reacting to, analyzing, or evaluating the selection.  Perhaps highlight what you consider to be significant about the selection, or make connections between your chosen writer and one or more of the writers on the course reading schedule.

Regionalism and Local-Color Writing:
Mark Twain (west)
Bret Harte (west)
Constance Fenimore Woolson
Joel Chandler Harris (south)
Sarah Orne Jewett (east)
Kate Chopin (south)
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman (east)
Charles W. Chesnutt (south)
Hamlin Garland (midwest)
Zitkala Sa

Literary Realism:
Mark Twain
Ambrose Bierce
Henry James
Abraham Cahan
Edith Wharton

Literary Naturalism:
Kate Chopin
Mary E. Wilkins Freeman
Charlotte Perkins Gilman
W.E.B. Du Bois
Stephen Crane
Theodore Dreiser
Jack London
Henry Adams

Narratives of Minority Struggle and Resistance:
Cochise
Charlot
Booker T. Washington
Charles W. Chesnutt
Charles Alexander Eastman (Ohiyesa)
Sui Sin Far
W. E. B. Du Bois
John M. Oskison
Native American Chants and Songs
Wovoka
Zitkala Sa

Papers are Due on Wednesday, February 4, 2004