Hawthorne Seminar Syllabus

Hawthorne Seminar Syllabus

October

M 2 Introduction

T 3 The Scarlet Letter – “The Custom-House”

M 9 The Scarlet Letter, chs. 1-13

T 10 The Scarlet Letter, chs. 14-Conclusion

M 16 The Scarlet Letter, film, dir. Roland Joffé

T 17 Discussion

M23 The House of the Seven Gables, chs. 1-3

T 24 The House of the Seven Gables, chs. 4-8

M 30 The House of the Seven Gables, chs. 9-12

T 31 The House of the Seven Gables, chs. 13-16

T 31 The House of the Seven Gables, chs. 17-21 (We will have two classes on Tuesday 31, to make up for the November 6 class, which is cancelled—see below. The first class will meet from 9 to 11 in Room 003; the second, as usual, in Room 202, from 3 to 5 pm)

November

M 6 NO CLASS. You are all invited, however, to attend Professor Franco Moretti’s lecture on “The

Western and the Noir” – same time, same place as our regular class (to be confirmed)

T 7 The House of the Seven Gables, film, dir. Joe May

M 13 Discussion

T 14 The Marble Faun, chs. 1-10

M20 The Marble Faun, chs. 11-20

T 21 The Marble Faun, chs. 21-32

M 27 The Marble Faun, chs. 33-41

T 28 The Marble Faun, chs. 42- Conclusion

December

M 4 FINAL IN-CLASS EXAM

The final paper for this class is due no later than December 21st. Your paper will have to be 7-8 page long, double-spaced (12-point font). In the paper you will draw a connection between a motif, theme, topic, stylistic or structural feature found in one of the three early tales I have assigned, on the one hand, and one, or more, of the later “romances” we have read in this class, on the other. Papers must be analytical: they cannot simply summarize or describe the texts; they need to be the structured around a clearly defined thesis, which must be stated in the introduction of your essay. I have uploaded on my website a Word file with precise instructions on how to write a critical paper. The document is in Italian, but those who are not fluent in Italian can consult a very useful website on which many of the things I say in my text are based: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/618/1/