This American Lit Unit 4: Reconstruction, Realism, Regionalism, and the Start of a New Century (1865 - 1913)
Welcome to This American Lit, a yearlong reading project devoted to examining the texts and narratives that continue to shape, define, and challenge the idea of America.
Today’s post is too long for email and is best read in a web browser or in the Substack app.
Okay, readers, we’re at the halfway point of our journey and this is the moment syllabus building tips from hunting for obscure works to fill out a unit to an abundance of rich texts to choose from. This is where I’ve had to start making hard decisions and lots of cuts, so I will particularly value your additions in the comments on both the syllabus post and our end-of-unit discussion. This is where we seen an explosion of the Great American Short Story which means there is lots of great fiction to read even if you can’t commit to a novel.
In terms of novels, I have a slew of Choice Reads for you along with two Touchstone Texts: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain and The Custom of the Country by Edith Wharton. Like last month, I will share an “Approaches to Reading” audio essay for each Touchstone Text. If there is another text (novel, story, or poem) that many people are reading, I would be happy to add an additional Approaches to Teaching essay to our schedule, so keep me posted on what you’re picking up!
Housekeeping:
This American Lit is now its own section within the FictionMatters newsletter. To get these emails, you must visit fictionmatters.substack.com/account and toggle on the notifications for This American Lit.
Whether or not you turn on notifications, you will still find a This American Lit tab on the FictionMatters Substack homepage. You can access all past syllabi, unit discussions, and more from that tab.
The PDF of this Unit Syllabus is forthcoming, however, if you need it now, click the three dots at the top right corner of this post when viewing on a web browser and click “Open as PDF.”
