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Faculty in this Area
John Evelev Maureen Konkle April Langley Patricia Okker Thomas Quirk Alexandra Socarides  Five Points (1827) by George Catlin American Literature to 1914American Literature to 1914 is an area of particular strength within the MU English Department, with faculty covering the range from colonial America into the beginnings of modernism. The core faculty--John Evelev, Maureen Konkle, Patricia Okker, Thomas Quirk, and Alexandra Socarides--focus primarily on what could be called the long nineteenth century (from late 18th century through the first years of the 20th), with particular strengths in historical and textual studies. Our work includes the cultural, social, and intellectual contexts of individual texts, literary schools, or historical periods; the study of manuscripts (including revisions and variant versions of a text); the compositional and publishing history of given texts; the circumstances surrounding the production, representation, and distribution of literature; and textual criticism and the establishment of reliable texts. This emphasis on historical and textual studies is reflected in individual faculty member's research areas, including, for example, Dickinson's manuscripts (Socarides), Melville and middle-class professionalism (Evelev), compositional history of specific texts (Quirk), Native intellectual history (Konkle), and serialized novels in periodicals (Okker). We likewise emphasize historical and textual studies in the wide range of classes we teach; recent graduate and undergraduate courses include Twain (Quirk), nineteenth-century American women's poetry (Socarides), transnationalism in nineteenth-century American literature (Evelev), nineteenth-century American novel (Okker), and survey of Native writing and representation (Konkle). While teaching primarily in other areas, Professors Aliki Barnstone (Creative Writing: Poetry), April Langley (African Diaspora Studies) and David Read (colonial literature in England and America) provide additional expertise. Library HoldingsMU Libraries have some notable strengths in the area of nineteenth-century American literature, including particularly strong holdings in nineteenth-century periodicals. The Western Historical Manuscript Collection and the State Historical Society of Missouri, both of which are on campus, provide additional opportunities for archival work. In addition, the library has a number of databases essential to the study of nineteenth-century American literature, including American Periodicals Series Online, Illustrated Civil War Newspapers and Magazines, Historical Newspapers, C19: The Nineteenth Century Index, Early American Imprint Series I and II, North American Women's Letters and Diaries, and American Civil War: Letters and Diaries. Fellowship and Teaching Opportunities New PhD students in nineteenth-century American Literature are encouraged to apply for the John and Cynthia Shaw Fellowship in American Literature. This fellowship provides a one-time grant of $1,000 for an incoming PhD student in any area of American literature. Students in our graduate program teach a variety of writing and literature courses, including first-year writing and Introduction to American literature, both of which provide graduate instructors with considerable flexibility in designing their own courses. In addition, PhD students in American Literature to 1914 will also be able to team teach, at least once, an American literature survey with one of the core faculty in this area. English 3300 covers American literature from the beginnings to the Civil War, and English 3310 covers American literature from the Civil War to the present. Students will learn how to build a syllabus, write paper assignments and exams, lecture and lead discussion in a sophomore/junior-level survey course. Professional ActivitiesThe American Literature Discussion Group meets three times a semester to discuss new scholarship in the field. These meetings are led by a different participant each time, giving students and faculty alike the opportunity to discuss informally recent developments in our field. Faculty encourage students to attend both regional and national conferences, and faculty at MU regularly attend the American Literature Association conference each May. Starting in May 2010, interested students and faculty will also attend the conference organized by C19: The Society of Nineteenth-Century Americanists at Penn State's University Park campus in State College, Pennsylvania. The theme of the conference is "Imagining: A New Century." Course OfferingsRecent Undergraduate courses:
Recent Graduate courses:
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