Monday, 27 October

NO CLASS – FALL BREAK   

      For Wednesday (10.29):

• Read Emerson, “Self-Reliance” (B, 211-225)
• Record two entries in your common-place book

Wednesday, 29 October

Today we return to the 19th century to discuss one of the most commonly-cited literary texts asserting American independence, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, “Self-Reliance” (1841). Emerson’s essay has long been cherished by champions of democratic liberalism and has been quoted innumerable times over in all manner of ways. We study this text closely for the formal and substantive elements that work to resolve the paradox of freedom and captivity.

      For Friday (10.31):

• Read Jacobs, from Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl (B, 622-657)
• Read Truth, “Speech to the Women’s Rights Convention in Akron, Ohio” (B, 503-04)
• Record two entries in your common-place book

Friday, 31 October

Today we take up two important voices from the mid-19^th century—Harriet Jacobs and Sojourner Truth—who both contribute to our understandings of captivity and freedom in U.S. cultural history, specifically from the perspective of women of color. We’ll also distribute the take-home exam essay question.

      For Monday (11.3):

• Read Douglass, from Narrative of the Life, Chapter 10 (B, 813-828)
• Record two entries in your common-place book