A Course Description of American Literature
A Brief Introduction of American Literature
Part One Colonial Period and Early American Literature(1620-1800)


Chapter 1 The Planters and the Puritans
Background Information
1.1 Captain John Smith
From The Generall Historie
Captain Smith Among the Indians
1.2 William Bradford
From The Pilgrims Meet the Indians
1.3 Edward Taylor
The Jov of Church Fellowship Righdy Attended


Chapter2 The Founders ofthe Nation
Background Information
2.1 Benjamin Franklin
From The Whisfle
A Receipt to Make a New England Funeral Elegy
From The Way to Wealth
2.2 Thomas Paine
From Common Sense
2.3 Thomas Jefferson
The Declaration of Independence
Part Two The Romantic Period(1780-1860)


Chapter 3 The New National Literature
Background Information
3.1 Washington Irving
The Devil and Tom Walker
3.2 James Fenimore Cooper
An Overview of The Deerslayer
From The Deerslayer
3.3 William Cullen Bryant
Thanatopsis
To a Waterfowl
3.4 Edgar Allan Poe
The Masque of the Red Death
Annabel Lee
To Helen


Chapter 4 The Transcendentalism
Background Information
Transcendentalism
4.1 Ralph Waldo Emerson
From Self-Reliance
The Rhodora
4.2 Henry David Thoreau
An Overview ofWalden
From Walden
Where I Lived，and What I Lived for
4.3 Henry Wadsworth Long fellow
The Arsenal at Springfield
The Tide Rises，the Tide Falls
Nature
The Sound ofthe Sea
4.4 Nathaniel Hawthorne
The Maypole of Merry Mount
An Overview of The Scarlet Letter
The Summary of Chapter 12
From The Scarlet Letter Chapter 12
The Minister's Vigil
Part Three The Aae of Realism(1860-1910)


Chapter 5 The Codflict between North and South
Background Information
5.1 Walt Whitman
Young Grimes
From Song of Myself
Cavalry Crossing a Ford
5.2 Abraham Lincoln
Second Inaugural Address，March 4，1865
5.3 Emily Dickinson
I Like to See It Lap the Miles
I'll Tell You How the Sun Rose
Because I Could Not Stop for Death
5.4 Harriet Elizabeth Beecher Stowe
An Overview of Uncle Tom's Cabin
The Summary of Chapter 12
From Uncle Tom's Cabin Chapter 12
Select Incident of Lawful Trade


Chapter 6 New American Outlooks
Background Information
6.1 Mark Twain
From life on the Mississippi
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County
An Overview of Ihe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
The Summary of Chapter 31
From The Adventures ofHuckleberry Finn Chapter 31
6.2 Henry James
An Overview ofThe Portrait of a Lady
The Sunanary of Chapter 7
From The Portrait of a Lady Chapter7
6.3 Stephen Crane
A Mystery of Heroism
6.4 Theodore Dreiser
An Overview of Sister Carrie
A Summary of Chapter 47
From Sister Carrie Chapter 47.
The Way of the Beaten-A Harp in the Wind
Part Four Modern American Literature(1910- )


Chapter 7 American Literature after WW Ⅰ
Background Information
7.1 Ezra Pound
In a Station of the Metro
The River-Merchant's Wife：A Letter
A Pact
7.2 Sherwood Anderson
From Winesburg，Ohio
Sophistication
From Winesburg，Ohio
Mother
7.3 Robert Frost
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Fire and Ice
To a Young Wretch
Mending Wall
7.4 Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald
An Overview ofThe Great Gatsbv
From The Great Gatsby Chapter 3
7.5 Ernest Hemingway
In Another Country
An Overview.ofA Farewell to Arms
From A Farewell to Arms Chapter 36
7.6 Eugene O'Neill
An Overview ofThe Hairy Ape
From The Hairy Ape SCENE Ⅰ
From The Hairy Ape SCENE Ⅱ
From The Hairy Ape SCENE Ⅲ
7.7 John Ernst Steinbeck
The Leader of the People
An Overview ofThe Grapes of Wrath
From The Grapes of Wra山Chapter 9
7.8 William.Faulkner
The Bear


Chapter 8 American Literature after WW Ⅱ
Background Information
The War Novelists
The Southern Writers
The Jewish Writers
The Beat Generation and the Beat Writers
The Black Humor/Black Humorist
The Black Writers
The Feminist Writers
8.1 Saul BeHow
An Overview ofThe Adventures of Augie March
From The Adventures of Augie March Chapter 21
8.2 Norman Mailer
From“The White Negro”2
From“The White Negro”4
An Overview ofThe Armies of the Night
From The Armies of the Night
Part 6-A Transfer of Power
8.3 J.D.Salinger
An Overview ofThe Catcher in the Rye
From The Catcher in The Rye Chapter 22
From The Catcher in the Rye Chapter 24
8.4 Joseph Heller
An Overview of Catch-22
From Catch-22 Chapter 40
From Catch-22 Chapter 42
8.5 The Black WIiters
Background Information
Langston Hughes
Negro Speaks of Rivers
Richard Wright
From Black Boy
James Baldmn
An Overview of Tell Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
From TeU Me How Long the Train's Been Gone
8.6 The Southera Writers
Background Information
Robert Penn Warren
Infant Boy at Midcentury
Truman Capote
From In Cold Blood
Flannery O'Connor
An Overview of A Good Man is Hard to Find
From A Good Man Is Hard to Find
8.7 The Jewish Writers
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Gimpel the Fool
The Son from America
8.8 The Feminist Writers
Sylvia Plath
Words
Daddv
Alice Walker
Everyday Use
For Your Grandmama
Appendix Ⅰ A Chronology of American Literature and Life
Appendix Ⅱ Literary Terms
Appendix Ⅲ Suggested Answers to the Questions
Appendix Ⅳ Tests
Appendix Ⅴ 試卷參考答案
Appendix Ⅳ Bibliography