Summary of Course Goals

• read and enjoy a range of American literary texts produced from about 1865-1970
• learn about literary movements and cultural developments that accompanied these writings
• expand one's knowledge of specific literary concepts in order to develop multi-faceted and critical responses that take account of the intellectual, artistic, and emotional power of these writings
• gain the ability to express these critical responses to other readers and thinkers in dialogues that construct new knowledge for oneself and others; to me, this is a crucial aspect of the learning process, and this is one of the reasons I require so much student-to-student interaction as you will see below

Explanation of Goals

This course has multiple purposes and goals. On the surface, we simply want to read and enjoy some of the high points of American writing since the Civil War (roughly 1865). In order to understand (and therefore enjoy) this writing in greater depth, we'll also delve a bit into the history of the time and the broader developments in art and literature that go along with the particular stories, books, and poems that we are reading. Finally, we will also practice careful and detailed reading and writing skills as we read and discuss these texts. In this way, we will approach them with a care and consideration I think they deserve. While there is often an immediate emotional, and almost physical, response to carefully crafted writing, we should also read and discuss these works at an intellectual level, which I hope will complement our initial thoughts and feelings.

Because we can't possibly read all of the fine writing that occurred in the U.S. during this period, we will drop in on four moments that helped to shape the literary and cultural history of America.  We'll start in the latter half of the 20th century with those literary troublemakers the Beats and others of their ilk.  After traveling a few miles down a road strewn with naked bodies, naked souls, and general scrapings from the underbelly of the post-WWII period, we'll jump back in time to the Gilded Age (the title given to this period is itself a slap in the face co-authored by Mark Twain) of the late 19th century as we hunt for the precursors of the 20th century shenanigans we've encountered.  From there, we will move forward into the early 20th century to the hotbed of American culture known as the Harlem Renaissance.  From new experiments in high art and literature to juke joints and jazz, this time and this place remain a crucial epicenter for contemporary American culture.  Finally, we will look at the Modernist movement, a cultural movement that overlaps with the Harlem Renaissance, that stands as the immediate literary precursor to the Beats, and that includes a veritable cavalcade of American literary stars, such as Hemingway, Stein, Wright, Frost, Porter, Fitzgerald, and Hughes among others

As we consider all of these big ideas in literature, we will also study and discuss specific literary terms, such as symbolism, metaphor, and theme, and how we can use these to come to a more complex understanding of pieces of writing.  In fact, these will be useful tools for us as we try to appreciate the "big picture" ideas mentioned in the paragraphs above.