ENGL 293 - Topics in American Literature

FDR: HL
Credits: 3-4
Planned Offering: Fall, Winter, Spring

Topic for Spring 2012:

ENGL 293: Topics in American Literature: Business in American Literature (4). In his 1776 book, The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith tells a powerful story of the free market as a way to organize our political and economic lives, a story that has governed much of the world ever since. This course studies that story, considers alternate stories of human economic organization, such as those of American Indian tribes, and sees how these stories have been acted out in American business and society. We study novels, films, short stories, non-fiction essays, autobiographies, advertisements, websites, some big corporations, and some local businesses in the Lexington area. Our goal is to understand the characteristic strengths and weaknesses of American business to see why it works well in some cases and not so well in others. (HL) Smout.

Topics for Winter 2012:

ENGL 293-01: Topics in American Literature: Thrilling Tales: New North American Fiction (3). A study of recent novels and short stories by North American authors. The course examines the recent movement of literary fiction into genres traditionally limited to pulp writing. Texts may include: McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales; Atwood’s Oryx and Crake; Allende’s Zorro; Alexie’s Flight; Butler’s Fledgling; McCarthy’s The Road; Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao; and Lethem’s graphic novel Omega: The Unknown. (HL) Gavaler

ENGL 293-02: Topics in American Literature: American Short Story (3). We explore the roots of this distinctly modern genre through the work of American, French, and Russian masters while also sampling a wide range of contemporary writers, from minimalists to magical realists. Among the authors included: Poe, Hawthorne, Chekhov, Hemingway, Lawrence, Mansfield, Cheever, O’Connor, Carver, Oates, and Boyle. (HL) Oliver

ENGL 293-03: Topics in American Literature: American Storytelling: Made in the U.S.A. (3). We start by asking these questions: What is “American” storytelling? What stories do Americans tell? Is there one American story? How do ethnicity and gender affect stories told about our lives in the United States? What do they allow? What do they not allow? What do they make possible? What do they disrupt? How are ethnic literatures different from canonical American Literatures? How are ethnic literatures important to the overall history of the United States? Why are these stories important for you? This course focuses on ethnic “minority” literature (material written by men and women of non-dominant cultures in the U.S.), moving it from the edges (or margins) of your world into the center. We focus on four groups: African American, Native American, Mexican American, and Japanese American. We study stories, poems, narratives, autobiographies, music and visual art from these communities. We complicate the issue of labels by looking also at gender relationships and histories within these communities, using a relatively small handful of texts. On your own, you study one author from one of these communities not on our syllabus, in preparation for a small group presentation and your final research essay. (HL) Miranda

Topic for Fall 2011:

ENGL 293-01: Wilderness in American Literature (3). “There are some who can live without wild things, and some who cannot.” This course investigates ideas of wilderness in selected writings by American writers from a variety of periods and perspectives. We read fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by writers like Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Mary Austin, Gary Paul Nabhan, Aldo Leopold, Barry Lopez, and Terry Tempest Williams. Writing assignments include examinations and analytical papers. (HL) Warren.