In this class we will practice skills in reading, analyzing, and writing about fiction, poetry and drama from a select sampling of 20th Century American Literature. Through class discussion, close reading, and extensive writing practice, this course seeks to develop critical and analytical skills, preparing students for more advanced academic work.

LibriVox recording of a collection of 20 short stories and long-form poetry by American women writers. (Summary by BellonaTimes)

Includes selections from Mary E. Wilkins, Kate Chopin, Louisa May Alcott, Alice Dunbar, Willa Cather, Lola Ridge, Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman, Fannie Hurst, Zitkala-Sa, Amy Lowell, Hilda Doolittle, Elinor Wylie, Lucretia P. Hale, Edna Ferber, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Lydia Maria Child, Sara Teasdale, Susan Fenimore Cooper, and Elizabeth Stuart Phelps.

For further information, including links to online text, reader information, RSS feeds, CD cover or other formats (if available), please go to the LibriVox catalog page for this recording.

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The Digital American Literature Anthology is a free, online textbook that surveys American literature from its beginnings to the early twentieth century. It is available in multiple digital formats, though specifically designed for tablets, laptops, and e-readers. The textbook has links to unit introductions, and multiple supplemental online resources.

 The syllabus and reading lists for ENG 241: Survey of American Literature, taught at Virginia Western Community College by Dr. Jenifer Kurtz.

This anthology is divided into five major sections, starting with the Colonial period and ending with the publication of Harriet Jacobs’s Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl on the eve of the Civil War. Each section includes an overview and framework for approaching the readings, as well as overarching questions to help students think about the connections between the texts. There is also a brief introduction to each of the authors featured in these sections, followed by discussion questions based on the texts. The textual introductions do not include a great deal of biographical material; instead, I have used them to provide a frame (typically connected to the larger section introduction) that I hope will help students to navigate from. The discussion questions could also easily be used as open-ended exam questions or as essay prompts. Some of the discussion questions are also invitations for students to make intertextual connections, or to consider how the literary landscape changes from its “beginnings” to the Civil War.

This textbook takes a distinctly socio-historical approach to introducing Early American literature. The anthology will allow students to engage with literature in exciting and dynamic ways. The table of contents has been drafted, and we are currently looking for introduction authors and help securing public domain texts.

In this class, we questioned the very parameters of what counts as American literature. Is American literature defined by geographical boundaries? Experiences? Histories? Themes? What is the difference between American literature and American history? Who determines what counts as American literature? How does the in-depth study of early American literature prompt us rethink representations of American culture today? In our global era, it is clear that past definitions of American literature must be revisited. This anthology moves to answer the question “what is American literature?” by framing the texts in new and provocative ways that fit the modern age.