ENGL 293 - Topics in American Literature

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

Prerequisite: Completion of the FW requirement. Studies in American literature, supported by attention to historical contexts. Versions of this course may survey several periods or concentrate on a group of works from a short span of time. Students develop their analytical writing skills in a series of short papers. May be repeated for degree credit if the topics are different.

Winter 2014 Topic:

ENGL 293: Topics in American Literature: American Short Story (3). This course is a study of the evolution of the short story in America from its roots, both domestic and international, tracing the main branches of its development in the 20th century. We also explore more recent permutations of the genre, such as magical realism, new realism, and minimalism. Having gained an appreciation for the history and variety of this distinctly modern genre, we focus our attention on the work of two American masters of the form, contemporaries and erstwhile friends who frequently read and commented on each other’s work–Hemingway and Fitzgerald. We examine how they were influenced by their predecessors and by each other and how each helped to shape the genre. (HL) B. Oliver.

Fall 2013 Topic:

ENGL 293-01: Topics in American Literature: History, Trauma, and Human Rights (3). In this course on contemporary American literature, we focus on works by writers of Asian, South Asian, and Middle Eastern descent that bear witness to historical displacement–both national and international. Given the political divisions between America and their countries of origin, it is perhaps no surprise that so many of these writers organize their creative work around the idea of trauma. The psychic dislocation within these writers’ communities, and its artistic dramatizations, is at the heart of this course. We investigate the ways in which characters and individuals within various cultural productions navigate between their ancestral and American homes and, in so doing, contribute to debates on immigration, assimilation, and national identity. Attending to the transnational aspects of their work, we also consider how some of these writers engage with contemporary human rights struggles in such places as China, Palestine, and Iran. Major reading selections may include Julie Otsuka’s When the Emperor Was Divine. Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist, Shahriar Mandanipour’s Censoring An Iranian Love Story, among others. (HL) Darznik.