Course Description
Explores the full range of Twain's fiction and nonfiction, between 1869 and 1910, presenting him as a far richer and more complex artist than students usually expect to encounter, who only know him as the author of "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn."
Athena Title
Mark Twain
Prerequisite
(Two 2000-level ENGL courses) or (one 2000-level ENGL course and one 2000-level CMLT course)
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
This class approaches the legacy of Mark Twain through the lens provided by some of the last work he produced: the "Mysterious Stranger" narratives and the provocative Socratic dialogue "What Is Man," that Twain published anonymously in 1906. Working backward from this final stage in the growth of his mind, the syllabus will present the full course of that growth, beginning with "The Innocents Abroad" and concluding with "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court," "Pudd'nhead Wilson," the "Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc," or "Following the Equator." Depending on the instructor, some of Twain's late scientific fantasies or his fierce anti-imperial polemics may also figure in the reading list. Students can expect to write 25- 30 pages of expository prose, in a mix of short and long formats, with considerable editorial feedback provided by the faculty member teaching the class. Some option for revision may be part of the writing requirement of the class.
Topical Outline
The over-arching topic of the class is "Mark Twain," but different thematic or contextual emphases may reflect the interests of the faculty members teaching it. Some instructors may replace the reverse chronology sketched in the course objectives with a traditional chronological approach. Some may focus strictly on fiction or on nonfiction. Others could adopt a variety of structural approaches to Twain's work: Twain and Race, Twain and Humor, Twain and Science, Twain in the Gilded Age.