Early American Literature

Catalog description

A study of the origins of literature of the Americas with an emphasis on the Puritans and early Republic through 1830. We begin with the oral history of Native Americans and the literature of colonization and exploration. We also explore the rich tradition of spiritual autobiography, poetry, narrative history, and sermons among the Puritans. Turning to the eighteenth-century, we examine captivity narratives and democratic writing of the Revolutionary period, with an emphasis on the impact of the slave trade, colonization, Independence, and contemporary issues of the post-colonial period.