EN304 Twentieth-Century North American Literature
This module should be running in 2012-13 although it is not possible to confirm this until August (as with all modules).
For queries regarding this module for 2012-13, please contact D dot Katz at warwick dot ac dot uk.
This is a Pathway Approved Option for the North American Pathway and one of the Distributional Requirements for the English Pathway for 2012-13. Can also be selected as an option under the remaining Pathways.
The syllabus listed currently is only indicative. Modifications are very likely.
Information for 2010-11
Objectives
Twentieth-century North American literature encompasses an extraordinarily wide and diverse range of texts. There are many different ways in which its history could be constructed and this module offers one particular route through an extremely broad field. The aims of the module are:
- to sample some of the key movements and writers in narrative prose and in drama
- to develop analytical and critical skills through close reading of the set texts
- to develop strategies for reading the set texts within the context of twentieth-century American culture.
The module examines American writing from 1912 to the end of the century, focusing on selected issues. In 2010-11 these are as follows:
- Revisioning the American Dream
- African Americans negotiating identity
- American pastoral - the rise of suburbia
- Beyond the Frontier - violence and conflict
Outline Syllabus:
Mary Antin The Promised Land (1912), Willa Cather My Antonia (1918), Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby (1925), Annie Proulx Postcards (1992), Richard Wright Black Boy (1945), Ralph Ellison Invisible Man (1952), Toni Morrison Jazz (1992), Barack Obama Dreams from my Father (1996), Arthur Miller Death of a Salesman (1949), Sylvia Plath The Bell Jar (1963), Richard Yates Revolutionary Road (1961), Don DeLillo White Noise (1984), Ernest Hemingway Fiesta: The Sun Also Rises (1926), Michael Herr Dispatches (1977), Cormac McCarthy Blood Meridian (1985), Tim O’Brien The Things They Carried (1990), Louis Owens Dark River (1999).
You can find a one-page outline of the module schedule here.
Background reading
Campbell, Neil & Alasdair Kean. American Cultural Studies. London: Routledge, 1997; Mitchell, Jeremy & Richard Maidment, eds. The
Teaching Times
Thursday seminars; Friday open space learning.
Method of Assessment
1 x 5,000-word essay and 1 x 2-hour (+15 minutes reading time) examination (C: 50/50).
All students will be required to give a seminar presentation during the year. All students will be required to make a contribution to the module website.
