The origins of American literature studies : an institutional history
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The origins of American literature studies : an institutional history
（Cambridge studies in American literature and culture, 154）
Cambridge University Press, 2007
- : hardback
- : pbk
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. 193-211) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
Although American literature is a standard subject in the American college curriculum, a century ago few people thought it should be taught there. Elizabeth Renker uncovers the complex historical process through which American literature overcame its image of aesthetic and historical inferiority to become an important field for academic study and research. Renker's extensive original archival research focuses on four institutions of higher education serving distinct regional, class, race and gender populations. She argues that American literature's inferior image arose from its affiliation with non-elite schools, teachers and students, and that it had to overcome this social identity in order to achieve status as serious knowledge. Renker's revisionary analysis is an important contribution to the intellectual history of the United States and will be of interest to anyone studying, teaching or researching American literature.
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- 1. The birth of the PhD: the Johns Hopkins research model
- 2. Seminary wars: female teachers and the seminary model at Mount Holyoke
- 3. Higher education for African-Americans: competing models at Wilberforce University
- 4. Literary value and the land-grant model: the Ohio State University
- Conclusion. The end of the curriculum
- Works cited
- Archives consulted
- Index.
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