American Literature and Culture

Transcription

1 Emne ENG165_1, ENGELSK, 2013 HØST, versjon 31-May :50:04 American Literature and Culture Course Code: ENG165_1, Credits: 10 credits Offered by: Faculty of Arts and Education, Department of Cultural Studies and Languages Semester tuition start & duration: Autumn, 1 semester Exam term: Autumn Language of instruction: English Course staff - Eric Dean Rasmussen (Course teacher) - Jena Habegger-Conti (Course coordinator and course teacher) - Camilla Melhuus Line (Programme coordinator) Introduction ENG 165 provides an introduction to the literature and culture of the United States, from the early-colonial period to the postmodern present. Students will learn about significant issues in America's history through the lens of its literary writing. Students will study a diverse range of texts from several historical periods and literary genres (poetry, drama, short story, novel, essay) by authors who have contributed to America's dynamic literary tradition and, through their writing, shaped American culture. The emphasis will be on literary analysis and situating the texts, meaningfully, within relevant literary, sociocultural, and historical contexts. Learning outcome Knowledge By the course's end, students are expected to have acquired knowledge about: Significant texts and authors from America's literary tradition. The relationship between U.S. history and culture and American literary tradition. Literary mediations of important historical events and sociocultural debates in US history. Skills By the course's end, students are expected to be able to: Analyze and understand American literature from multiple historical periods and literary genres. Interpret texts by conducting close readings and deploying relevant techniques and terms from literary studies. Explain the sociocultural significance of selected texts and authors. page 1

2 ENG165_1 - American Literature and Culture General competence By the course's end, students should be able to: Use correct, varied, and precise English in order to participate in intellectual conversations about issues in literary and cultural studies. Analyze what others have written or said, then summarize their arguments and assumptions in a recognizable way. Teaching methods Lectures Required prerequisite knowledge None Exam Wt. Duration Marks Aid Written exam 1/1 5 hours A - F English-English dictionary., Own notes. Overlapping courses Course Reduction (credits) The American Century (ENG160_1) 5 The American Century (ENG160_2) 5 American Genesis (ENG120_1) 5 English A (EUH0210_A) 5 American Literature and Culture (MENG165_1) 10 Open to English Language and Literature - Bachelor's Degree Programme, General Teacher Education, English - One-year programme, History - Bachelor's Degree Programme, Religious Studies - Bachelor's Degree Programme, Nordic Language and Literature - Bachelor's Degree Programme, Teacher Education including an MA, English with Didactics - One-year programme Course assessment Quality control by students is a central element of the UiS plan to improve teaching. In the Department of Cultural Studies and Languages this system includes student evaluation of courses in the form of an early dialogue every semester and an end-of-semester rating of at least two courses within each subject during one academic year. For such purposes the Office for Teaching Standards has made guidelines. page 2

3 Emne ENG165_1, ENGELSK, 2013 HØST, versjon 31-May :50:04 Literature REQUIRED TEXTS Students must have all of the following texts, in the specified editions: American Literature and Culture Nina Baym, et. al, eds., The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Eighth Edition, Package 1: Volumes A and B, Beginnings to 1865 (London: W. W. Norton, 2012). Nina Baym, et. al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature, Eighth Edition, Package 2: Volumes C,D, and E, 1865 to the Present (London: W. W. Norton, 2012). Paul S. Boyer. American History: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2012). F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby. Intro. Tony Tanner. (London: Penguin Classics, 2005). Reference books M. H. Abrams and Geoffrey Galt Harpham, A Glossary of Literary Terms, 10th ed. (Boston: Wadsworth, 2008). Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein, They Say / I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, 2nd ed. (London: W. W. Norton, 2009). READING LIST All readings, unless marked with an asterix (*), are in The Norton Anthology of American Literature, volumes A-E. Texts marked with a single asterisk (*) will be made available at the start of the semester. Texts marked with a double asterisk (**) must be bought separately. Non-Fiction and Literary Essays William Bradford, from Of Plymouth Plantation (extract, ca. 1637) John Winthrop, "A Model of Christian Charity" (1630) Cotton Mather, "The Wonders of the Invisible World" (1693) J. Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, "What is an American?" (1782) Benjamin Franklin, "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America" (1784) Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Self-reliance" (1841) page 3

4 ENG165_1 - American Literature and Culture Henry David Thoreau, "Resistance to Civil Government" (1849) Theodore Roosevelt, from The Strenuous Life (1900) and from American Ideals (1897) Helen Hunt Jackson, from A Century of Dishonor (1881) Frederick Jackson Turner, "The Significance of the Frontier in American History" (1920) Henry James, from "The Art of Fiction" (1884) * David Foster Wallace, "David Foster Wallace on Life and Work" adopted from commencement speech at Kenyon College (2008) All introductions to literary periods in The Norton Anthology of American Literature. All introductions to writers on the reading list from The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Fiction, Poetry, and Drama "The Iroquois Creation Story" (date unknown) "Pima Stories of the Creation of the World" (date unknown) Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown" (1835) Edgar Allen Poe, "The Fall of the House of Usher" (1839) Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself" (Extracts: 1, 6, 24, 52) (1855, 1881) Emily Dickinson, "Because I could not stop for Death" [479]; "The Brain - is wider than the his Sky" [598]; "I started Early - Took my Dog" [656] (ca. 1860s) Henry James, Daisy Miller: A Study (1878) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wall-paper" (1892) ** F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby (1925) *Ernest Hemingway, "Soldier s Home" (1925) William Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily" (1931) Black Elk and John G. Neihardt, "The Great Vision" from Black Elk Speaks (1932) Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947) Ralph Ellison, "Prologue" and "Battle Royal" from Invisible Man (1952) Allen Ginsberg, "Howl" and "A Supermarket in California" (1956) page 4

5 Emne ENG165_1, ENGELSK, 2013 HØST, versjon 31-May :50:04 Sylvia Plath, "Daddy" (1962) Gwendolyn Brooks, "To the Diaspora" (1981) Leslie Marmon Silko, "Lullaby" (1981) Toni Morrison, "Recitatif" (1983) * Don DeLillo, from White Noise (1985) NB. Minor changes in the syllabus may occur. RECOMMENDED TEXTS American History Hugh Brogan, The Penguin History of the USA: New Edition (London: Penguin, 2001). Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty! An American History, 3rd ed. (London: Norton, 2012). James W. Loewen, Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong, 2nd ed. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007). George B. Tindall, David E. Shi and Thomas Lee Pearcy, The Essential America, Volumes 1 and 2 (London: Norton, 2006). Howard Zinn, A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present (New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005). American Literary History Susan Castillo, American Literature in Context to 1865 (Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). Richard Gray, A Brief History of American Literature (Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). Philip R. Yannella, American Literature in Context from 1865 to 1929 (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). Philip R. Yannella, American Literature in Context after 1929 (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). Sigmund Ro, Literary America: An Introduction to the Literature of the United States (Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1997). American Studies Bruce Burgett and Glenn Hendler, eds. Keywords for American Cultural Studies. (New York: New York University Press, 2007). page 5

6 ENG165_1 - American Literature and Culture Greil Marcus and Werner Sollors, eds. A New Literary History of America (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2009). Howard Temperley and Christopher Bigsby, eds., A New Introduction to American Studies, (London: Pearson, Longman, 2006). Literary Theory and Criticism Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royle, An Introduction to Literature, Criticism and Theory, 4th ed. (Pearson-Longman, 2008). page 6