EN 501.01 Boston: History, Literature & Culture I (Fall 2013-2014: 3)
Covering the period from the arrival of the Winthrop Fleet in 1630 through
the Civil War, this is the first half of a two-semester, interdisciplinary
course on Boston's history, literature and culture broadly defined. Team-taught
by a history and an English professor, and drawing on experts in the other
areas (including music and visual arts), the class reads poetry, drama,
fiction and nonfiction connected to Boston in relation to political and
social developments. We will cover a variety of topics in the city's early
history, from its Puritan foundations through the Revolutionary era, and
ending with the city's establishment as a cultural and economic metropolis.
We will read works by such authors as Anne Bradstreet, Mary Rowlandson,
Benjamin Franklin, Phillis Wheatley, Judith Sargent Murray, Hannah Webster
Foster, Lydia Maria Child, Charles Sprague, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Nathaniel Hawthorne. Site
visits will take students out to the streets, museums, and archives of one
of the most historic cities in the United States.
Paul Lewis
Owen Stanwood
Last Updated: 01-FEB-13