American Lit 1900-present

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This course examines U.S. literary history after 1900, surveying American literary production in the context of broader social and artistic developments. Over the course of the semester, we will address many of the principal historical contexts for understanding the development of U.S. literature and culture during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, focusing on 1) debates about immigration, citizenship, and American democracy; 2) the persistence of social inequality and racial discrimination; 3) the rise of new technologies of communication and mass entertainment; and 4) the globalization of American culture and identity. Authors include Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, William Faulkner, Richard Wright, Carlos Bulosan, James Baldwin, Vladimir Nabokov, Toni Morrison, Don DeLillo, and Colson Whitehead. This course requires occasional response writings, two critical essays, and a final exam. Students do not need to have taken U.S. Literary History I to enroll.