English 6/76101 Seminar: U.S. Literature to 1865 :: "The Last Great Puritan Seminar" :: Spring 2005

Course Objectives:
We will explore the transatlantic phenomenon of Puritan literature, primarily in its colonial manifestation, to determine its vitality as field of study in a period of “New” early American literature. We will begin with the primary texts each week, arranged by genre, and conclude with two types of secondary texts, those essential pieces of scholarship on the Puritans and those pieces of scholarship that critically reevaluate the period. The seminar will prepare students for teaching the classic texts of early American literature, but it will also prepare students for understanding the larger cultural and pedagogical context of this period of study, as well as the issue of canon formation in our discipline.

Texts:
Bradford, Of Plymouth Plantation. McGraw-Hill.
McGiffert, God's Plot: Puritan Spirituality in Thomas Shepard's Cambridge. U Mass P.
Vaughan and Clark, eds., Puritans among the Indians. Harvard.
Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. Penguin.
Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress. Penguin.
Edwards, Jonathan Edwards Reader. Triliteral
Miller, Errand into the Wilderness. Harper.
Bremer, ed., Puritanism. Cornell UP Services
Hall, Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgment. Triliteral
Taylor , Gods Determinations and Preparatory Meditations. Kent State UP
Additional materials available on Web Vista.

Requirements:
Several shorter reports (collaboratively written and presented), several critical summaries on the "canon" materials, and a longer, traditional research paper. The shorter reports will involve a critical summary as well as an in-class presentation.

Office & Hours:
I will meet students in my office (in the Grad Student Lounge) 209d before and after class for consultations. I will also be available by appointment at other times also in my office, usually tuesday and thursday afternoons. We will be using WebCT Vista (vista.kent.edu) and will hold regular online office hours on vista. I also respond quickly to simple or substantive queries and requests for appointments via email: raymond.craig@kent.edu. phone messages left at 2-1741 are neglected until i am in the building.