Literature and the American Presidency

Literature and the American Presidency (COLT 0610G)

Instructor: Joseph Pucci

Literary perspectives on the American presidency are as various as the presidents themselves. This version of Literature and the American Presidency will explore seven presidents through the lens of eight genres: epistolography (J. Adams and Jefferson), biography (Washington), memoir (Truman), drama (Buchanan), the novel (Lincoln), literary analysis (Lincoln), and the essay (Nixon). The eighth genre, that of popular culture/media, will allow access to these presidents through non-traditional literary forms, such as pamphlets, songs, posters, broadsides, graphics, newspapers, and magazines. In three instances (epistolography, memoir, literary analysis) the writings will be by presidents themselves; in the other instances, the writings will be about presidents. Further, this gathering of presidents allows for historical cogency, since the figures involved cluster around three discrete periods in presidential (and American) history: the founding, 1789—1809 (Washington, Adams, Jefferson); the civil war, 1857—1865 (Buchanan, Lincoln); and the cold war, 1945—1974 (Truman, Nixon). We will spend time toward the end of the class attending also to Nixon and film, screening a handful of movies that Nixon liked and analyzing them as backdrops to his presidency