Overview of Comprehensive Examination

Period Reading Lists

Part II Primary Text(s)

American Literature: 1865-1914

1. Cather, O’ Pioneers!

2. Chesnutt, The House behind the Cedars

3. Chopin, The Awakening

4. Crane, Maggie: A Girl of the Streets

5. Dreiser, Sister Carrie

6. Howells, A Hazard of New Fortunes

7. James, The Bostonians, “The Art of Fiction”

8. Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs

9. Johnson, The Autobiography of an Ex-colored Man

10. London, The Call of the Wild

11. Norris, McTeague

12. Twain, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

13. Wharton, The House of Mirth

14. Selected short fiction:

    1. Freeman, “The Revolt of Mother,” “New England Nun”

    2. Cable, “Jean-ah Poquelin,” “Belles Demoiselles Plantation”

    3. Cahan, “Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto”

    4. Far, “Miss Spring Fragrance,” “In the Land of the Free”

    5. Garland, “Up the Coolie,” “Under the Lion’s Paw”

    6. Gilman, “The Yellow Wallpaper”

    7. Zitkala-Sa, “Impressions of an Indian Childhood”