In the years leading up to the Civil War, American literature became a profitable large-scale business and a recognizable art form. Like so many other contemporary institutions, it simultaneously expanded and centralized. Lower printing and transportation costs helped to increase the supply of books; the desire of an increasingly large, heterogeneous, and mobile population for information, stimulation, and consolation helped to increase the demand for books. At the same time, however, the channels of supply were narrowed by the consolidation of the publishing industry and the channels of demand were narrowed by the popular anticipation of writing that would embody, flatteringly, the true national character. In this course, we will study in depth the distinctive and lastingly powerful literature that emerged under these conditions. Some of the authors we will be reading have been valued by literary critics ever since the mid-nineteenth century (Emerson, Hawthorne, Whitman), some ever since the early-twentieth century (Melville, Dickinson, Poe), some only in the last twenty-five years (Stowe, Douglass, Wilson). Despite their obvious differences, all these authors wrote for a literary marketplace that had been shaped by the processes of expansion and centralization, and they all asked their readers to reflect in some way on the implications of those processes. Reflecting on those reflections, appreciating their force and form, will be the principal business of this course. Requirements: pre-class email responses to readings, two short papers, and one longer paper. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limited to 25. (1800-1900/1700-1900)