AJ2MP_SAML Seminar to American literature of the 20th century

Faculty of Education
Autumn 2008
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Pavla Buchtová (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Lucie Podroužková, Ph.D.
Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Jana Popelková
Timetable of Seminar Groups
AJ2MP_SAML/01: Wed 7:55–9:35 učebna 59, P. Buchtová
AJ2MP_SAML/02: Wed 10:40–12:20 pracovna 303, P. Buchtová
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is only offered to the students of the study fields the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
This survey course examines American literature from the beginning of the twentieth century to present, covering two important literary movements, modernism and postmodernism. The course is designed to introduce students to the ideas and pleasures literature offers us, and encourages students to think about the texts and discuss them in the class. Students are also asked to keep a journal of their thoughts and responses to themes and ideas expressed in the texts.
At the end of this course, students should be able to describe at least two different varieties of literary modernism and discuss how black and white modernist experiments may have influenced each other; appreciate the diversity of modernist authors; see connections between the art and literature of the modern era; discuss several different schools of poetry; describe postmodernism, discuss its causes and origins, and discuss ways in which the twentieth-century fiction and poetry respond to the postmodern condition; explain how minority writers (women, ethnic, racial and sexual minorities) have used postmodern narrative techniques to define their identities
Syllabus
  • 1. Modernist poetry (Ezra Pound, W. C. Williams, e. e. cummings, Wallece Stevens, T. S. Eliot)
  • 2. Modernist fiction (Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway)
  • 3. Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes, Claude McCay, Zora Neale Hurston, blues lyrics)
  • 4. Southern literature (William Faulkner, Flannery OConnor)
  • 5. Drama (Edward Albee)
  • 6. Jewish authors (I. B. Singer, Woody Allen, Art Spiegelman)
  • 7. Postmodern literature I (Donald Barthelme, John Barth)
  • 8. Postmodern literature II (Kathy Acker, Joyce Carol Oates)
  • 9. Afro-American literature (Lucille Clifton, June Jordan, Alice Walker)
  • 10. Ethnic literature (Sandra Cisneros, Amy Tan, Sherman Alexie, Dian Million, Ofelia Zepeda)
  • 11. Contemporary poetry (Frank OHara, Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, Laurie Anderson)
Literature
  • The Columbia history of the American novel. Edited by Emory Elliott - Cathy N. Davidson. New York: Columbia University, 1991, xviii, 905. ISBN 0-231-07360-7. info
  • The Heath anthology of American literature. Edited by Paul Lauter. Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath, 1990, xxxix, 261. ISBN 0-669-12065-0. info
  • Columbia literary history of the United States. Edited by Emory Elliott. New York: Columbia University Press, 1988, xxviii, 12. ISBN 0-231-05812-8. info
Assessment methods
discussion-based seminars
Course requirements:
1) 80% attendance (if you miss more than two classes, then you have to work on reading journals for each class missed)
2) Read the material assigned in the syllabus (it will be checked by in-class quizzes)
3) At least five contributions to mood-link forums
4) Occasional mood-link tasks (reading journals, essays)
5) Final credit test
Language of instruction
English
Further Comments
The course is taught annually.
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2006, Autumn 2007, Autumn 2009, Autumn 2010, Autumn 2011, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2013, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2015, Autumn 2016, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2018, Autumn 2019.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2008, recent)
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