The course will open with an analysis of the way the American literary community emerged at the conclusion of the first World War, concentrating specifically on the burst of "High Modern" creative activity at the center of the expatriate community in Paris. We will then proceed to a more extended analysis of the emergence of the American literary community at the conclusion of the second World War, noting the abortive effort at forming another expatriate community in Paris, the development of a subterranean counterculture during the 1950s, and the surfacing of that counterculture in the post-assassination 1960s. The course will revolve around a small core of material (listed below) that all members of the class will prepare, but each student will undertake a research project on some aspect of counterculture not necessarily contemplated by the core. These projects will be developed in individual conferences, and should produce a very substantial research paper by the end of the semester. A modest reading journal of the core will also be required.

CORE READING LIST
Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast; T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land; Norman Mailer, Advertisements for Myself; William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch; Allen Ginsberg, Collected Poems (selection to follow); Ken Kesey, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; Kate Millet, Sexual Politics