Required Texts
Archived content. The NEH Summer Seminar “Why Literature Matters”
occurred from June 24-July 21, 2018.
"The Purloined Letter," illustration by Frédéric Théodore Lix
The readings for the first session of the seminar, both literary and secondary texts, will be mailed to Summer Scholars by the end of May. Please bring these hard copies with you to Santa Cruz.
Literary Texts: Required Editions
All Summer Scholars are also expected to bring to Santa Cruz the following editions of literary texts (ISBN numbers are included to make sure that it is easy to find the required editions).
Using the same editions of each of the texts assigned in the seminar will enhance the effectiveness of our discussions. Some of the secondary readings are included in these editions.
Brontë, Charlotte. Jane Eyre. Edited by Stevie Davies. Penguin. 9780141441146.
Dickens, Charles. Little Dorrit. Edited by Stephen Wall and Helen Small. Penguin. 9780141439969.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself. Edited by David W. Blight. Bedford. 9780312075316.
Mill, John Stuart. Autobiography. Edited by John M. Robson. Penguin. 9780140433166.
Poe, Edgar Allan. The Fall of the House of Usher and Other Writings: Poems, Tales, Essays, and Reviews. Edited by David Galloway. Penguin. 9780141439815.
Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. In Memoriam. Edited by Erik Gray. Norton Critical. 9780393979268.
Whitman, Walt. Song of Myself [1855 and 1892]: The First and Final Editions of the Great American Poem. American Renaissance Books. 9781484884492.
Secondary Reading: Essays and Chapters
Most of the essays and selected passages listed under the heading “Secondary Readings” in the syllabus will be provided as PDFs (in files beginning with the author’s last name). Please note that entire essays and chapters have been reproduced, but the assigned reading is often only a small part of the larger text.
Abrams, M. H., The Mirror and the Lamp, pp. 6-29.
Attridge, Derek. “Literary Experience and the Value of Criticism,” pp. 249-262.
Barrett, Faith. “Slavery and the Civil War,” Emily Dickinson in Context, pp. 206-215.
Best, Stephen, and Sharon Marcus. “Surface Reading,” pp. 3-6, 9-13.
Blackford, Holly Virginia. “Introduction,” Out of This World, pp. 1-15.
Bruns, Christina Vischer. Why Literature, pp. 11-36, 51-59.
Common Core State Standards, Appendix A: “The Model in Action,” pp. 11-12.
Crumbly, Paul. “Democratic Politics,” Emily Dickinson in Context, pp.179-187.
Dean, Gabrielle. “On Materiality (and Virtuality),” Emily Dickinson in Context, pp. 292-301.
DiBattista, Maria, and Emily O. Wittman. “Introduction,” Cambridge Companion to Autobiography, pp. 1-20.
Eliot, T. S. “In Memoriam,” In Memoriam (Norton Critical), pp. 135-139.
Hallam, Lord Tennyson. “In Memoriam,” In Memoriam (Norton Critical), pp. 105-110.
Hewitt, Elizabeth. “Economics,” Emily Dickinson in Context, pp. 188-197.
Keen, Suzanne. “Preface,” Empathy and the Novel, pp. vii-xxii.
McIntosh, James. “Religion,” Emily Dickinson in Context, pp. 151-59.
Nunokawa, Jeff. “In Memoriam and the Extinction of the Homosexual,” In Memoriam (Norton Critical), pp. 208-218.
Olney, James. “‘I Was Born’: Slave Narratives,” pp. 46-73.
Reynolds, Walt Whitman’s America, pp. 306-338 (with fig. 1-4, 37-38a); 348-359, 374-375, 380-387, 530-545.
Ricks, Christopher. “In Memoriam, 1850.” In Memoriam (Norton Critical), pp. 172-188.
Shannon, Edgar. “The Pinnacle of Success: In Memoriam,” In Memoriam (Norton Critical), pp. 110-121.
Smith, Barbara Herrnstein. “What Was ‘Close Reading’?” pp. 57-75.
Strier, Richard. “How Formalism Became a Dirty Word,” pp. 207-215.
Warner, Michael. “Uncritical Reading,” pp. 13-20.