This
6 credit course is conceived as a continuation of Literatura
Norteamericana I. It continues, therefore, the review of the
literature of the United States from its colonial beginnings to the
present century. In this case, the historical review focuses on the
post-Civil war period and the modernist writers, with a sprinkling of
post-WWII texts. This is the period that sees the establishment of a
canonical tradition of American literature. Time limitations restrict
the number and the length of the works to be treated (hence, in part,
the concentration on short texts and poetry) and economic as well as
literary considerations (number, quality, and representativeness of
the selections) determine the choice of the Norton anthology as the
source of most of the texts analyzed in class. If you rely on
photocopies, a course pack will be provided before the beginning of
the course and ideally before your summer vacation. The
texts will be read, roughly, in their chronological order, with
attention being paid to their historical contexts and their
reflection of and on the literary and cultural interests of their
period. We will spend most of the course dealing with the production
of a modern and "modernist" American literature, focusing
especially on the connexion between the notion of modernity and
American literature. The creation of a self-consciously "American"
and modern literature begins in the post-Civil War period and so we
begin with the diverse modes of "realist" writing of the
turn of the century and their attempts to represent the often chaotic
plurality of modern American reality. Class-work
will concentrate almost exclusively on close analysis of the texts
themselves. This course is not only a review of some of the most
important works and writers of the period from the late nineteenth
century down to the post-1945 period; it is also predominantly an
exploration of how these texts work, what writing strategies they
initiate, what interpretative responses they elicit and what cultural
work they carry out in their portrayal of an American reality. As we
shall see, this is especially pertinent to American literature given
its constant concern with how "America" itself should be
read and written.
Given
this approach, students must read the texts before
their analysis in class so that adequate comprehension may be more or
less taken for granted and fruitful discussion may be possible. This
is merely stating the obvious but it is especially necessary for a
course in which your rhythm of reading will have to be regular and
sustained for you to get the most out of it. Your are also expected
to read the Norton anthology's short period and author introductions
as helpful background to your reading of the primary texts.
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