English 700: Whitman, Melville, and the Question of American Identity

Prof. Scott Peeples
22-B Glebe St. Rm. 201 / 953-1993
peepless@cofc.edu / www.cofc.edu/~peeples/
Office Hours M 2-3:30 TR 10:00-11:30 and by appointment

Course objectives: To explore the question of American identity - what does it mean to be, or to act as, an American; is it possible to identify "the American character" in a divided nation, in a multicultural nation; how malleable is identity in a country in which the ability to make and re-make oneself is an article of faith? -- through the works of Herman Melville and Walt Whitman. To contribute to the ongoing discussion (oral and written) of these two writers' major works.

Graded Work:

In-class writing = 20 pts. (2 x 10)

Presentation (10-15 minutes) = 10 pts.
Essay (4-5 pp., same topic as presentation) = 20 pts.

Review of "Bartleby" criticism (500 words) = 10 pts. due 3/30

Research Proposal / Bibliography (300-500 words) = 20 pts. due 4/13
Researched Essay = 60 pts. due 4/27

Final exam = 30 pts. 5/4

Total 170 pts.

I will drop from the roll anyone who misses more than two classes.

Required Texts:

Whitman, Leaves of Grass (Norton) (LG)
Melville, Battle-Pieces and Aspects of the War (Da Capo)
Melville, Moby-Dick (Norton)
Melville, Pierre/Israel Potter/The Piazza Tales/The Confidence-Man/Uncollected Prose/Billy Budd (Library of America) (LA)
Reynolds, ed., A Historical Guide to Walt Whitman (Oxford) (HG)
Levine, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Herman Melville (CC)
A few other items available through electronic reserve (ER)

Schedule:

1/12 Introduction. Whitman, "Europe"

1/19 Whitman, Preface to the 1855 Leaves of Grass (616); the first poem of the 1855 Leaves of Grass (662-710), along with the revised version, "Song of Myself" (26); David Reynolds, "WW, 1819-1892: A Brief Biography" (HG); Michael Moon, "The Twenty-Ninth Bather" (LG). Recommended: Kenneth Cmiel, "Whitman the Democrat" (HG)

1/26 Melville, Benito Cereno (LA 673); Stuckey, "The Tambourine in Glory" (CC); Franklin, "Slavery and Empire: Melville's 'Benito Cereno'" (ER)

2/2 Whitman, "Of the Democratic Party 58-59-60" (LG 592), Drum-Taps and Memories of President Lincoln (LG 234-285), from Specimen Days (LG 774), the fourth poem in the 1855 Leaves of Grass (LG 723-31); Folsom, "Lucifer and Ethiopia" (HG)

2/9 Melville, Battle-Pieces (read through "The Eagle of the Blue"); Renker, from Strike through the Mask (ER)

2/16 Melville, Battle-Pieces (complete); Scholnick, "Politics and Poetics" (ER)

2/23 Whitman, Children of Adam and Calamus (78-116); Killingsworth, "Whitman and the Gay American Ethos" (HG)

3/2 Melville, Pierre; Wyn Kelly, "Pierre's Domestic Ambiguities" (CC)

3/9 Spring Break

3/16 Melville, Moby-Dick; John Bryant, "Moby-Dick as Revolution" (CC)

3/23 Whitman, from Democratic Vistas (LG 757), "O Magnet-South," "Mannahatta" (LG 397), "Pioneers! O Pioneers!" "Song of the Redwood-Tree," "Passage to India," "Prayer of Columbus," "To a Locomotive in Winter," "Years of the Modern," "Nay, Tell Me Not To-day the Publish'd Shame"; Erkilla, "The Poetics of Reconstruction" (LG)

3/30 "The Piazza," "Bartleby, the Scrivener," "The Two Temples," "The Paradise of Bachelors and the Tartarus of Maids." Find a critical essay on "Bartleby" and bring it to class, along with a 500-word review (summary and response) of that essay.

4/6 Melville, The Confidence-Man; Whitman, "Respondez!" (LG 515); Renker,
" 'A-': Unreadability in The Confidence-Man" (CC)

4/13 Whitman, [Remember If You Are Dying] (LG 610), "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry" (135); Sea Drift (LG 206-221), Whispers of Heavenly Death (LG 370-81), "Now Lift Me Close" (LG 527). Bring to class some example of Whitman memorialized, commercialized, popularized, etc. (e.g., poetic tribute, use in political speech, referenced in song or story).

4/20 Melville, Billy Budd; Karcher, [Melville and Revolution] (ER)


Presentation / 4-5 pp. essay: We'll schedule these so that one or two of you will be presenting each class; you'll turn in the essay the week after you present.

Q-H-Q Format: Pose an interpretive question regarding the primary text and develop a hypothesis that answers that question. At the conclusion of your essay, pose another question that your hypothesis prompts (but don't answer the second question - that's the end of your paper). You should support your hypothesis with references to the reading(s) for that day. You may also use other sources, such as the critical reading for that day, but you are not required to do so. Your presentation should last 10-15 minutes. Fill out the presentation worksheet and turn it in on the day you present.

I'll give you written guidelines for the researched essay by spring break, and a description of the final exam on the last day of class.


Helpful websites:

http://www.whitmanarchive.org/ The Walt Whitman Archive, which includes the 1856, 1867, and 1871-72 editions of Leaves of Grass, as well as images of Whitman manuscripts and a photo gallery.

http://www.uiowa.edu/~wwqr/index.html The Walt Whitman Quarterly Review home page includes a searchable bibliography of Whitman scholarship since 1975.

http://www.poets.org/poets/poets.cfm?45442B7C000C07070E The Academy of American Poets' Whitman site, useful mainly for its links to other Whitman sites on the web.

http://www.melville.org/melville.htm#HMB The Life and Works of Herman Melville, a bountiful site that includes bibliographies, publishing histories for each of Melville's books, excerpts from contemporary reviews, and links to other Melville sites.

http://people.hofstra.edu/faculty/John_L_Bryant/Melville/index.html The Melville Society home page, where you can read back issues of the Melville Society Extracts and join an online Melville discussion group, among other things.

http://guweb2.gonzaga.edu/faculty/campbell/enl311/melville.htm A very nice Melville page set up by a teacher at Gonzaga U. It includes bibliographies of criticism on "Bartleby," Moby-Dick and Billy Budd, and a Moby-Dick crossword puzzle.

http://cdl.library.cornell.edu/moa/ and http://www.hti.umich.edu/m/moagrp/ Making of America Project: these sites offers searchable books and journals from the nineteenth century. Serious archival research online, extremely helpful for certain kinds of projects.

http://www.cwc.lsu.edu/ United States Civil War Center website.

Other important web-based research tools include the MLA Bibliography and America: History and Life, available through the College of Charleston library's web page.