This class surveys American stories about itself, focusing on such topics as: Myths of Origin, Declarations of Independence, Realism and Satire, and Rewriting History. Although we address a wide range of authors, students also scrutinize certain core works in historical, biographical, and literary contexts: Mary Rowlandson’s Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration, Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of an American Slave, Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Toni Morrison’s Jazz.
