A Road Course in Early American Literature: Travel and Teaching from Atzlán to Amherst

Essays that fuse traditional scholarship and narrative nonfiction and explore US literature A Road Course in Early American Literature: Travel and Teaching from Atzl n to Amherst follows a two-part question: what does travel teach us about literature, and how can reading guide us to a deeper understanding of place? Thomas Hallock offers a teacher's journey to answering these questions, framing personal experience around the continued need for a course like the American literature survey to mid-nineteenth century. Hallock approaches literary study from the overlapping perspectives of pedagogue, scholar, unrepentant tourist, husband, father, friend, and son. Building on Ralph Waldo Emerson's premise that there is "creative reading as well as creative writing," Hallock turns to the vibrant and accessible tradition of American travel writing, employing the form of biblio-memoir to bridge the impasse between public and academic discourse and reintroduce the dynamic field of early American literature to wider audiences. Hallock's own road course begins and ends at the low country of Georgia and South Carolina, following a circular structure of reflection. A series of longer, place-oriented narratives explore familiar and lesser-known literary works from the sixteenth-century invasion of Florida through the Mexican and Civil Wars. Shorter chapters bridge the book's central themes--the mapping of cognitive and physical space, our personal stake in reading, the tensions that follow earlier acts of erasure, and the impossibility of ever fully shutting out the past. Exploring complex cultural histories and contemporary landscapes filled with ghosts and new voices, this volume builds on a tradition of travel, place-oriented, and literature-based works ranging from William Carlos Williams' In the American Grain and Jack Kerouac's On the Road to Alice Walker's In Search of Our Mother's Gardens, Wendy Lesser's Why I Read: The Serious Pleasure of Books and Rebecca Mead's My Life in Middlemarch. An accompanying bibliographic essay is periodically updated and available at the project website, www.roadcourse.us. A Road Course in Early American Travel and Teaching from Atzln to Amherst explores a two-part what does travel teach us about literature, and how can reading guide us to a deeper understanding of place and identity? Thomas Hallock charts a teachers journey to answering these questions, framing personal experiences around the continued need for a survey course covering early American literature up to the mid-nineteenth century. Hallock approaches literary study from the overlapping perspectives of pedagogue, scholar, unrepentant tourist, husband, father, friend, and son. Building on Ralph Waldo Emersons premise that there is creative reading as well as creative writing, Hallock turns to the vibrant and accessible tradition of American travel writing, employing the form of biblio-memoir to bridge the impasse between public and academic discourse and reintroduce the dynamic field of early American literature to wider audiences. Hallocks own road course begins and ends at the Lowcountry of Georgia and South Carolina, following a circular structure of reflection. He weaves his journey through a wide swath of American literatures and from Native American and African American oral traditions, to Wheatley and Equiano, through Emerson, Poe, and Dickinson, among others. A series of longer, place-oriented narratives explore familiar and lesser-known literary works from the sixteenth-century invasion of Florida through the Mexican War of 18461848 and the American Civil War. Shorter chapters bridge the books central themesthe mapping of cognitive and physical space, our personal stake in reading, the tensions that follow earlier acts of erasure, and the impossibility of ever fully shutting out the past. Exploring complex cultural histories and contemporary landscapes filled with ghosts and new voices, this volume draws inspiration from a tradition of travel, place-oriented, and literature-based works ranging from William Carlos Williamss In the American Grain and Jack Kerouacs On the Road to Alice Walkers In Search of Our Mothers Gardens , Wendy Lessers Why I The Serious Pleasure of Books , and Rebecca Meads My Life in Middlemarch . An accompanying bibliographic essay is periodically updated and available at Hallocks "A Road Course in Early American Literature: Travel and Teaching from Atzlán to Amherst explores a two-part question: what does travel teach us about literature, and how can reading guide us to a deeper understanding of place and identity? Thomas Hallock charts a teacher’s journey to answering these questions, framing personal experiences around the continued need for a survey course covering early American literature up to the mid-nineteenth century. Hallock approaches literary study from the overlapping perspectives of pedagogue, scholar, unrepentant tourist, husband, father, friend, and son. Building on Ralph Waldo Emerson’s premise that there is “creative reading as well as creative writing,” Hallock turns to the vibrant and accessible tradition of American travel writing, employing the form of biblio-memoir to bridge the impasse between public and academic discourse and reintroduce the dynamic field of early American literature to wider audiences. -- Provided by publisher Contents 8 Figures 10 Commonplace Book 12 Preface: Starting from Igbo Landing 18 Introduction: Searching for Solomons Store 28 1. Shell Mounds and Indianness 48 2. Into the Swamp with El Inca Garcilaso; or, the Ghost of the Two Body Problem 58 3. A Walk in Penn’s Woods 72 4. Coyote and the Kid 88 5. Wheatley in Flight 98 6. Root 106 7. A Raven and Three Crows 119 8. Oro de Oaxaca 130 9. A Is for Acronym 150 10. Emerson on the Hutch 157 11. Mary Rowlandson’s War on Terror 175 Coda: Emily Dickinson’s Ring Shout 184 Acknowledgments 194 Notes 196 Bibliography 214 Index 228