Engendering Renaissance: Chicago, Harlem and Modern America(s)

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

What was American modernism, and what is it today? How do we think about modernism then and now, and what are some of the changes it has undergone since the advent of what has/have been called the "new modernism(s)?" What uncommon modern American voices are brought to light by this understanding? What this course will explore the contributions to American modernism of two less conspicuous modern moments - the Chicago Renaissance of 1912-1925, and the Harlem Renaissance of 1920-1929 - in addition to the more traditional understanding of American modernists as represented by those authors belonging to the "Lost Generation". In "engendering renaissance," these two moments suggest a literary birth and rebirth of modern American identity that reconfigures the idea of Americanness within and opens the door to the larger and more varied cultural fabric that is modern America(s). By locating the rise of American modernism in the relation between these two literary moments, this course will broaden our understanding of the idea of Americanness at this time in literary history by considering how it is created within a frame determined by the interplay of race, gender, class and nation. In this way, it seeks to deepen our understanding of early 20th-century American culture and Americanness as it developed in the U.S., while at the same time suggesting new contexts in which to engage them in the 21st. Course Requirements: two 5-page papers, group presentation, several short in-class writing assignments. Course Texts: Required texts may include Walt Whitman, "Song of Myself"; Jose Martí, "Our America"; Henry Blake Fuller, The Cliff-Dwellers; Theodore Dreiser, Sister Carrie; Willa Cather, The Song of the Lark; Waldo Frank, Our America; Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio; Randolph Bourne, "Trans-National America"; Booker T. Washington, Up From Slavery; W.E.B. DuBois, The Souls of Black Folk; Anna Julia Cooper, A Voice From the South, excerpts; Jean Toomer, Cane; Jessie Fauset, Plum Bun; Nella Larsen, Quicksand & Passing.