American Literature Week One－Orientation

A. Before formal course (syllabus)
a. About period and genre -- There is a feature genre in every period.
b. Although The US got independent in 1776, American literature need to trace back to 1492 when Columbus founded the Americas.
c. Christopher Columbus got sponsor from Spanish King Ferdinand and Queen Isabelle. They wanted to find India; however, they arrived the Americas.

Christopher Columbus

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B. Crucial Issue about Literature
a. What is that? What is that for? Why should we care? 
b. The objective of this course is to make us know how to read, understand, and appreciate American Literature. 
*American literature is the literature written or produced in the area of the United States and its preceding colonies.
c. We should take notes in class and do the research after class.
d. The major literary genre in American literature is short story.

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C. The Intro Video (I)
a. What is literature? Why do people read literature? --> Our own definition is really important. We need to find out what's in our mind. Others' definition can just be regarded as some sort of reference.
b. The most important difference between literature and some other forms (such as news, a dissertation, etc...) is Imagination. Literature is full of imagination.
c.  Robert Frost's (the author of "The Road Not Taken") definition of literature- performance in words.
d. Modern definition of literature defined by five adjectives to describe which are beautiful, intellectual, emotional, imaginative, and artistic.
e. Analytical approach-- about the plot (What happened in the story?), character (Who's the bad guy?), setting (How to tell the story?), and point of view (Who tells the story? Is the POV omniscient or first-person ?) 
f. Thematic approach included what's about and the time appears as well. eg. Oedipus is a man who must learn form suffering.

Oedipus

g. Three qualities of American literature-- Independent, Individualistic, Innovative (3I) and Critical.

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D. The Intro Video (II)
a. In 1603, John Smith is the first colony government and he is also the first American author. He cultivated tobacco to earn money and bought a land named Virginia. Cuz both Pilgrims and Puritans are regarded them as a part of the Great Britain.

  John Smith Virginia

b. The Mayflower-- The Mayflower was the Pilgrim ship that in 1620 made the historic voyage from England to the New World. The ship carried 102 passengers in two core groups – religious Separatists coming from Holland and a largely non-religious settler group from London.

c. The first American man of letter is Washington Irving who wrote "Rip Van Winkle" which contained American landscapes and it's the first literature piece.

*"Rip Van Winkle" is originated from a Dutch story. It is about a hen pecker but Washington Irving added some historical facts.

Washington Irving

d. British is not the first one who opened up the Northern America. French and Spanish are much earlier. Frenches were looking for fur and they proclaimed the Edict of Nantes. 

* Louisiana (a state which is New Orleans located ) used to belong to France; however, the Louis XIV(14th) sold it.   

LouisianaLouis 14

e. Some Irish came to the Northern America later because of the Great Famine.

f. Quotation from "Common Sense" (Thomas Paine)-- The least government is the best government.
g. Post-Independence -- The politics are much more than authors.

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E. Vocabulary
a. man of letter 文人 -- literacy 識字的人
b. Innovative-- renovative is originate form November
c. diversity-- di means "to cut or rend into two" eg. divide, divorce, and different