Choose from the following essay prompts. You may create your own topic, with approval, if
you consult me before 4 December. You must use secondary sources appropriate to your topic in both
focus and quantity. Your paper should demonstrate a grasp of both the primary text(s) you choose to write
on and the critical materials available. This means that you must show an understanding of the reliability
of critical materials, how to find scholarly criticism, and an ability to judge whether a work is dated or
current. While some topics will have more or less critical materials available than others, I advise a 3-4
sources minimum. You may wish to consider biographical materials, letters, print history, journals, or
other such sources as well.
• Several of the authors we have studied seem to be inspired by or interested in each other’s work.
Consider two or more authors’ relationships (personal or purely literary) and how they can inform
their writings. Is it a mutual influence? Does a later author alter the way we read an earlier one?
Try to consider as many levels in the texts as possible, such as allusions, style, setting, themes,
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argumentative purposes, or even related texts and biographical information.
• Hemingway’s In Our Time is both deceptively simply in language yet shows significant interest in
form and style. How is style a part of the content of the collection? Does style relate to the content,
or does style prevent the reader from noticing the ‘deep’ structural and political interests of the
book? How does the style change across the different versions of the work?
• Several texts we have read are described by critics as artistic reactions to major conflicts among
the social forces that arose from “modernity” in America, and many of the works we have studied
reflect these social imbalances (ie: class, gender, race, war, colonialism, economics, etcetera).
Consider one or more text(s) by taking into account how they respond to their cultural and
historical circumstances.
• Douglass’s Narrative of the Life went through revisions for the Dublin edition, and this is the only
version of the text over which he had direct editorial control. Yet, when he quotes from Narrative
of the Life in his later works, he invariably uses the earlier Boston edition rather than the Dublin
edition. What does this mean for his revisions? Were they unimportant, or could there be other
reasons for his return to the Boston edition? Consider the differences between the two editions
and their importance in this light.