Category: theodore dwight

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“Rosa” and The Formation of an American Literature

At first, teaching Rosa, or American Genius and Education (1810) in an early American literature survey course seemed somewhat daunting. I frame my courses around conversations, typically beginning with David Walker and Thomas Jefferson then moving around through time and region back and forth from the colonial to the early nineteenth century. I do this to show students that even though these texts appear … Read More “Rosa” and The Formation of an American Literature

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Sarah Kemble Knight and Calls for a Distinctly American Literature

During our discussion of Sarah Kemble Knight’s Journal, I asked students to think about a broad topic regarding the first publication of Knight’s text in 1825 in relation to calls for a distinctly American literature during the early part of the nineteenth century. I have written about this before in regards to the turn towards Native American characters and more specifically King Phillip; however, … Read More Sarah Kemble Knight and Calls for a Distinctly American Literature