ENAM 485: Senior Seminar in American Studies

Syllabus: American Icons (Spring 1995)

Last updated 1/12/95

TEXTS:

All texts are on reserve in Clemons (R), will be distributed in class (X), or will be available on the class newsgroup, uva.engl.enam485 (B). Since proposals, drafts, and the final versions of your projects will also be posted to the newsgroup, you should get a unix account if you don't already have one.

Jan. 18: Organization:

Course Objective

Jan.20: Introduction

Reading:
- Richard Lanham, The Electronic Word: Literary Study and the Digital Revolution, and Digital Rhetoric and the Digital Arts,The Electronic Word: Democracy,Technology and the Arts. (R)
- Icon
- Washington Irving, Rip Van Winkle. (B)
Image:

Tom Wesselman, Great American Nude #8 (X)
Tom Wesselman, Liberty. (X)
Suggested:

John Berger, Ways of Seeing (R)
Daniel Boorstin, The Image: A Guide to Pseudo-Events in America.(R)
Erwin Panofsky, Studies in Iconology.
Herbert Read, Icon and Idea.
Janet Wolfe, The Social Production of Art. (R)

Jan. 23: Pilgrims, Puritans, and Others

Readings:

Sacvan Bercovitch, Puritanism and the Self, in The Puritan Origins of the American Self. (R)
Cotton Mather, Nehemius Americana, in Magnalia Christi Americanus(R) and in Bercovitch.
Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Maypole of Merrymount. (R)

Jan. 25: That Snuff Colored Little Man:Ben Franklin,

Readings:

Benjamin Franklin, The Way to Wealth,
Selections from The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. (X)
D. H. Lawrence, Benjamin Franklin in Studies in Classic American Literature. (R)
William Carlos Williams, Poor Richard, in In the American Grain. (R)

Image:

Benjamin Franklin. (X)

Suggested:

Hector St. Jean de Crevecouer, What is an American,in Letters of an American Farmer.

Jan. 27: The Declaration of Independence

Readings:

Thomas Jefferson, et al, The Declaration of Independence. (X)
Robert A. Ferguson, We Hold These Truths, in Sacvan Bercovitch, ed., Reconstructing American Literary History. (R)

Image:

Jonathan Trumbull, Signing of the Declaration of Independence, 4 July, 1776. (X)
Plaque of the Declaration (X)

Suggested:

Michael Kammen, A Season of Youth. (R)
Gary Wills, The Invention of America. (R)

Jan. 30: George Washington

Readings:

George Washington, Farewell Address. (X)
William Carlos Williams, "George Washington," in In the American Grain. (R)

Image:

Horace Greenough, George Washington. (X)
Jean-Antoine Houdon, George Washington. (X)
Hiram Powers, George Washington. (X)
Gilbert Stuart, George Washington. (X)

Suggested:

Dixon Wecter, The Hero in America.
Barry Schwartz, George Washington: The Making of an American Symbol.
Mason Locke Weems, George Washington.

Feb. 1: Niagara Falls

Readings:

Nathaniel Hawthorne, My Visit to Niagara Falls. (X)

Image:

Benjamin Church, Niagara Falls. (X)
Asher B. Durand, Kindred Spirits. (X)
George Innes, The Lackawanna Valley. (X)

Suggested:

R. W. Emerson, Nature.
William R. Irwin, The New Niagara: The Meaning of Niagara Falls in American Culture from Discovery to 1920.
Thomas Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia.
Leo Marx, The Machine in the Garden. (R)
Elizabeth R. McKinsey, Niagara Falls: Icon of the American Sublime. (R)
Barbara Novak, American Painting in the 19th Century. (R)

Feb. 3: Walter Whitman

Readings:

R.W. Emerson, Representative Men and Napoleon in Representative Men. (R)
Walt Whitman, Preface to 1855 ed. Leaves of Grass and Song of Myself. (R)

Image:

Frontispiece to Song of Myself. (X)

Suggested:

Quentin Anderson, The Imperial Self.
Harold Bloom, ed., Walt Whitman.

Feb. 6: The Gettysburg Address

Readings:

Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address (X)
Walt Whitman, When Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloomed. (X)

Image:

The Lincoln Memorial (X)

Suggested:

Gary Wills, Lincoln at Gettysburg.(R)

Feb. 8: The Machine in the Garden
- Readings:
  - Henry Adams, Quincy, and The Dynamo and theVirgin from The Education of Henry Adams. (R)
  - Image: The Corliss Steam Engine (X)
- Suggested:
  - J. C. Levenson, The Mind and Art of Henry Adams.
  - Howard Mumford Jones, The Age of Energy.
  - William Peirce Randel, Centennial: American Life in 1876.
  - Mitchell Wilson, American Science and Invention: A Pictorial History. 1954.
Feb. 10: Brooklyn Bridge
- Readings:
  - Stephen Crane, The Bridge (R)
- Image:
  - Brooklyn Bridge (X)
  - Joseph Stella, The Bridge. (X)
- Suggested:
  - Karl Roebling, The Age of Individuality: America's Kinship with the Brooklyn Bridge. 1983
  - Stanley K. Schultz, Constructing Urban Culture: American Cities and City Planning, 1800-1920. 1989
  - Allen Trachtenberg, Brooklyn Bridge:Fact and Symbol. (R)
Feb. 13: The Supreme Court Building
- Readings:
  - The Constitution of the United States of America(X)
- Image:
  - The Supreme Court of the United States
- Suggested:
  - The Oxford Compainion to the Supreme Court. (R)
  - Michael Kammen, The Machine That Would Go By Itself.
Feb. 15: The World According to Disney
- Readings:
  - Umberto Ecco,Voyages in Hypereality, Voyages in Hypereality (R)
- Image:
  
  Disneyland (X)
  Andy Warhol, Campbell's Soup, (X)
  Tom Wesselman, Great American Still Life #24 (X)
- Suggested:
  
  Robert Venturi, Learning From Las Vegas.
  Stephen M. Fjellman, Vinyl Leaves. (R)
Feb. 17 : Meditations on American Iconography
Readings:

Selections from Signs1 and Signs2. (R).

Feb. 20: Individual conferences:project proposals and working bibliographies due.

Feb. 22: Individual conferences
Feb. 24: Individual conferences

Feb. 27: Progress reports, editorial assignments

Mar. 1: Progress Reports

Mar. 3: Progress Reports

March 6: Optional conferences

Mar. 8: Optional conferences

Mar. 10: Optional conferences

March 11-19: Spring Vacation

Mar. 20: Editorial Conference I

Mar. 22: Editorial Conference I

Mar. 24: Editorial Conference I

Mar. 27: Editorial Conference I

Mar. 29: Editorial Conference I

Mar. 31: Editorial Conference I

Apr. 3: Editorial Conference I

Apr. 5: Editorial Conference I

Apr. 7: Editorial Conference I

Apr. 10: Editorial Conference II

Apr. 12: Editorial Conference II

Apr. 14: Editorial Conference II

Apr. 17: Editorial Conference II

Apr. 19: Editorial Conference II

Apr. 21: Editorial Conference II

Apr. 24: Editorial Conference II

Apr. 26: Editorial Conference II

Apr 28: Editorial Conference II

May 1: Last Day of Classes: Final Draft Due.

American Studies Program Description
ENAM 483: Syllabus
ENAM 484: Syllabus
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