Literature, Religion, and "Culture Wars" in America

This course examines important moments where religious and literary histories converge. It reads "classic" American literary works in context of ongoing conflicts between evangelical and secular forces in American life, and it thinks about literature as an arena where these very categories are contested and revised. Major readings will include works by John Winthrop, Benjamin Franklin, Harriet Beecher Stowe, African American women preachers, Emerson, Mark Twain, and Flannery O'Connor. Enrollment restricted.