AMERICAN LITERATURE

The four-part sequence of American Literature will span over 500 years of our country’s contribution to the literary world. We will look closely at why we read what we read and who benefits (and loses out) in the ways we define ourselves and our literature as American. We will examine writers who are considered very important (or “canonical”) by most people, and we will try as well to look at some lesser-known writers and what they have to contribute to our understanding of ourselves. Throughout the course continually ask, what constitutes literature and how does it change over time? What does it mean to call literature “American?” What social and cultural factors affect literature and how is it produced and understood? And how do we choose what to read and what not to read?

Text:  Prentice Hall, Timeless Voices, Timeless Themes, The American Experience, Prentice Hall; copyright 2000.

Internet resources: Outline of American Literature, Kathryn VanSpanckeren. usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/oal/oaltoc.htm; copyright 1998. PAL: Perspectives in American Literature, Paul Reuben Ph.D. www.csustan.edu/english/reuebn/pal/; copyright 2005.