ENG 2045 - TRANSATLANTIC LITERATURE

credits: 3.0
This course reorients traditional surveys of British and American literature by considering the historical and literary networks criss- crossing the Atlantic Ocean. Shifting spatial perspective opens both literary traditions to new questions and uncovers how the dynamics of narrative exchange reflected and shaped the geopolitics of the modern Atlantic sphere. Students will be introduced to multiple histories of the Atlantic - American, Caribbean, African, and European - and will read canonical works alongside narratives that challenge prevailing definitions of modernity, empire, slavery, revolution, and gender. Objectives: A) Demonstrate careful and critical reading of seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth-century British and American texts across genres and forms, with special attention to their diverse historical and cultural contexts; B) Articulate your perspective on a text or issue in the history of transatlantic literatures and cultures with clear and effective writing in service of a reasoned, evidenced argument; C) Present the historical, literary, and methodological issues raised by transatlantic texts, with an eye toward their implications in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries; D) Identify the major themes, movements, genres, and forms of British and American literature in a transatlantic context (1600-1850), with specific authors and works to support your claims; E) Produce a research-based essay on an issue in transatlantic history or literature using primary and secondary sources. Method of Instruction: Lecture, class discussion, and digital portfolio. Method of Evaluation: Essay One (10%), Essay two [Research] (30%), Quizzes (20%), Midterm (20%), and Final Exam (20%). Meets *GLP Distribution Requirement.