ENGL 258 - Literature and Film of the American West

FDR: HL Literature Distribution
Credits: 3

Prerequisite: completion of FDR:FW requirement. The American West is a land of striking landscapes, beautiful places to visit such as Yellowstone and Yosemite, and stories that have had a huge impact on the USA and the world, such as Lewis and Clark, the Oregon Trail, and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show. This course studies some of these Western places, stories, art works, and movies. What has made them so appealing? How have they been used? We study works by authors such as John Steinbeck, Willa Cather, N. Scott Momaday, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Cormac McCarthy, plus movies such as Shane; The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; The Searchers; and Dances With Wolves to see how Western stories have played out and what is happening now in these contested spaces.