| I. Nineteenth-century fiction |
A. National literature
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1. American subjects
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2. American style
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3. American myths
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B. Romanticism (see additional information)
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C. Examination of American "dreams"
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| II. American stories |
A. Oral traditions written to preserve
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1. Native American
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2. Hispanic
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3. Irving's New York Dutch (satire)
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B. "New" American traditions created from old
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1. Irving
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2. Cooper
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C. Romanticism emerges
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1. Cooper
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a. Ideal hero
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b. Nature
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2. Irving
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a. Role of nature
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b. Truth of "dream" (American Revolution)
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| III. American Romantic fiction |
A. Poe's Career (Westminster Church Hall and Burying
Grounds)
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1. Varied success
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2. Extensive influence
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3. Current subjects
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B. Poe's "The Fall of the House of Usher"
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1. Motifs
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a. Dark mood
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b. Premature burial
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c. Family influence ("House")
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d. Overwhelming fear
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2. Narrator
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3. Romanticism
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a. Gothic subject
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b. Limits of reason ("dreams")
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4. Unified effect
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C. Hawthorne's importance
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D. Hawthorne's "Young Goodman Brown"
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1. Use of past (Puritan setting and ideas)
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2. Symbolism (Puritan and Romantic)
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3. Ambiguity (dream or true)
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| IV. America and Dreams |
A. Stories of journey to new understandings
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B. Cultural myths
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C. Uncertainty of "dream" of truth
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D. American questioning
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