American  Literature  in  the  University  

Rough  History  •  First  class  taught  at  Amherst  College  in  1828,  but  closed  a?er  

a  couple  of  years  •  By  1870s  6  courses  on  American  Lit.  in  American  colleges.    But  

dominance  of  philology  sGll  privileged  older  wriIen  forms  of  English.  

•  MLA  founded  in  1883  by  a  small  group  of  college  teachers  demanding  study  of  modern  literatures.  

•  In  late  19th  C,  several  women’s  colleges  had  courses  in  American  literature.  

•  In  the  1920s,  a  group    in  MLA  formed  to  promote  American  literature.  

•  From  1930s  to  1980s  study  of  American  literature  stabilized  somewhat.  

•  Canon  exploded  in  1970s  and  1980s.      •  Emergence  of  theory  beginning  in  1980s.  

Changing  Anthologies  

•  Fred  PaIee’s  Century  Readings  for  a  Course  in  American  Literature  (1919),  a  single  volume  work  compiled  at  the  close  of  WWI,  contained  hundreds  of  writers  while  later  anthologies  included  many  fewer.  

•  Masters  of  American  Literature  (Gordon  Ray-­‐1959)  included  18  writers  

•  Major  Writers  of  America  (Perry  Miller  1962)  included  28  

•  Macmillan  Anthology  (1963)  included  12  

•  Norton  (1963)  included  8.  

•  Macmillian  editors  wrote  about  their  12  choices:    “In  choosing  Emerson,  Thoreau,  Hawthorne,  Poe,  Melville,  Whitman,  Mark  Twain,  James,  Emily  Dickinson,  Frost,  Eliot,  and  Faulkner,  we  can  imagine  liIle  dispute.”  

•  Yet,  in  1935,  editors  of  Major  American  Writers  state,  “there  can  be  no  quesGon  that  Franklin,  Cooper,  Irving,  Bryant,  Emerson,  Hawthorne,  Longfellow,  Whider,  Lincoln,  Poe,  Thoreau,  Lowell,  Melville,  Whitman,  and  Mark  Twain  consGtute  the  heart  of  any  course  in  American  literary  history.”  

•  There  has  been  quesGon.    In  addiGon  to  a  sharp  narrowing  in  the  range  and  number  of  authors  (up  unGl  about  the  beginning  of  the  1990s),  there  has  been  a  virtual  rewriGng  of  literary  history,  as  enGre  periods,  genres,  and  modes  of  classificaGon  disappear.  

From  PaIee  (1919)  to  Miller  (1962)  

•  A  dozen  authors  dropped  away  in  the  Colonial  period  

From  PaIee  (1919)  to  Miller  (1962)  

•  Only  one  of  seven  RevoluGonary  authors  makes  it  through.    RevoluGonary  songs  and  ballads  are  missing  enGrely.  

From  PaIee  (1919)    to  Miller  (1962)  

•  Federalist  Period  disappears  altogether,  along  with  most  of  the  first  half  of  the  19th  century.  

From  PaIee  (1919)    to  Miller  (1962)  

•  Songwriters  are  gone,  historians  are  gone,  southern  writers  and  anG-­‐slavery  writers  are  gone.  

•  Etc.,  etc.  etc.  

30’s  Anthologies  

•  Included  cowboy  songs,  Negro  spirituals,  railroad  songs,  southwestern  yarns,  songs  and  prayers  of  NaGve  Americans,  leIers,  journals,  poliGcal  speeches,  etc-­‐-­‐things  that  haven’t  appeared  in  anthologies  again  unGl  recently.  

30’s  Anthologies  (cont.)  

•  These  editors  write  about  wanGng  to  show  a  connecGon  between  our  literature  and  American  life  and  thought.    

•  Influenced  by  the  social  and  poliGcal  consciousness  of  the  30’s.  

1950’s  and  early  1960’s  

•  This  changed,  though,  in  the  fi?ies  and  early  sixGes.  

•  With  McCarthy  Era,  the  Cold  War,  the  Eisenhower  years,  criGcism  responded  to  the  more  conservaGve  temper  of  the  country.  

New  CriGcs  

•  The  new  criGcs  of  the  1950’s  aIempted  to  establish  literary  discourse  as  a  special  mode  of  knowledge.  

•  CriGcism  became  more  scienGfic  as  science  grew  in  presGge  in  the  20th  century.  

•  Fi?ies  arms  race  and  launching  of  Sputnik  added  to  the  rivalry  between  the  sciences  and  the  humaniGes.  

1950’s,  early  1960’s  (cont.)  

•  Close,  analyGcal  readings  of  the  work  itself  seemed  more  scienGfic.  

•  Also,  were  more  adaptable  to  teaching  literature  on  a  mass  scale  as  college  populaGon  tripled  with  the  GI  Bill  and  postwar  affluence.  

So,  ideas  about  literary  excellence,  what  we  value  in  literature,  are  related  to  social  and  historical  condiGons  of  the  Gme.  

F.O.  MaIhiessen  • F.  O.  MaIhiessen  wrote,  in  his  popular  book,  American  Renaissance:  

"The  half  -­‐decade  of  1850-­‐55  saw  the  appearance  of  Representa:ve  Men    (1850),  The  Scarlet  Le?er  (1850),  The  House  of  the  Seven  Gables  (1851),  Moby-­‐Dick  (1851),  Pierre  (1852),  Walden  (1854),  and  Leaves  of  Grass  (1855).    You  might  search  all  the  rest  of  American  literature  without  being  able  to  collect  a  group  of  books  equal  to  these  in  imaginaGve  vitality."  

Mathiesssen  believed  criGcism  should  “be  for  the  good  and  enlightenment  of  all  the  people,  and  not  for  the  pampering  of  a  class.”    He  believed  that  the  books  he  had  chosen  were  truly  representaGve  of  the  American  people,  for  these  works,  more  than  any  others,  called  “the  whole  soul  of  man  into  acGvity.”  

However,  his  list  actually  embodies  the  views  of  a  very  small,  socially,  culturally,  geographically,  

sexually,  and  racially  restricted  elite.  

•  None  of  the  works  named  is  by  an  orthodox  ChrisGan,  although  that  is  what  most  Americans  in  the  1850’s  were.  

•  No  works  by  women,  although  women  at  that  Gme  dominated  the  literary  marketplace.    (Hawthorne’s  comment  about  “the  damned  mob  of  scribbling  women.”)  

•  No  works  by  males  not  of  Anglo-­‐Saxon  origin.  

•  No  works  by  writers  living  south  of  NY,  north  of  Boston,  or  west  of  Stockbridge,  Mass.  

Today’s  Norton  Anthology  

•  Shorter  7th  ediGon  has  approximately  175  different  writers  

•  Includes  NaGve  American  songs,  creaGon  stories  

•  Includes  excerpts  from  poliGcal  speeches  and  tracts,  leIers,  diary  excerpts,  etc.