I. Schedule

The whole course is to take sixty hours in thirty units. The first chapter takes four hours and the second chapter, two hours. Eighteen hours is devoted to chapter three, namely, New England transcendentalism and the Romantic Age. Chapter four, the age of realism, needs six hours and chapter five, eight hours. Chapter six will have eighteen hours. The last chapter is to take six hours. As the time distribution shows, emphasis will be laid on chapter III and chapter VI, American Modernism.

II. Key Points

In each chapter, there is a general account of the historical background and a brief description of the development of literature covering specific historical period of America. The students are not expected to memorize all the details in those two parts. The professor will present the key points of the historical background and the description of American literary development. As we mentioned before, the objective of learning American literature is to enable student to get an initial understanding of American literary history and to enjoy American literary works. In other word, after learning this course, students should be able to appreciate the beauty of various literary forms as well as the beauty and English language. Besides, the exposure of students to literature will make it possible for them to enrich their life experience. To fulfill this enormous task, the key point is the most important American writers and their respective masterpieces. Therefore, students are expected to learn them by heart and match the names of the important writes with the names of their works. Efforts should be made to understand the concepts of various literary schools. Focus has to be fixed on the themes and significance of the most famous American classics.

III. Problems

1. The limitation of the size of students’ vocabulary and the syntactic complication would hinder students’ reading progress, but reading plays a substantial role in literary study.

2. The historical, social and religious conditions of America are quite new and strange to most students in terms of English version.

3. Students were rarely exposed to American novels, dramas, poetry before, which makes the teaching and learning this course even more difficult.

4. The rich contents of American literature but short time for class instruction poses unimaginable difficulties for both teachers and students to handle.

IV. Method of Learning the Course

Students are expected to understand and get familiar with the key points of each lecture first, and then to learn some of the essential literary facts by heart. Some parts of the textbook can be omitted, such as accounts on writers’ life story. Some parts can be scanned or read briefly, such as unimportant details of historical background and accounts about minor American writers. Some parts have to be understood completely, such as definitions of literary terms. However, the key points should be studied carefully and absorbed by students. If possible, students may take advantage of some books on American Literature in Chinese. Students are also expected to read some American novels and poems either in English versions or in Chinese versions.