American Fiction
Hannah Wells profile
T 6-9:10
This course is a survey of American fiction from the founding of the US to the present. Highlighting the interplay between literary and cultural histories, it emphasizes the multiplicity of contexts from which a national literature emerges, as well as the ways in which works of fiction help form and reform a nation. From the romantic adventure stories of James Fennimore Cooper to the gothic terrors presented by Herman Melville, we will discuss the paradoxical energies inherent in the very concept of a literary America. The themes that emerge in this discussion—freedom and slavery, individualism and attachment, self and society—will continue to resonate as we turn our attention to the work of Henry James, Edith Wharton and Charles Chesnutt. We will also discuss authors of the twentieth century—Willa Cather, William Faulkner—who framed these concerns within the context of distinctly regional experience, as well as authors like Ralph Ellison and F.Scott Fitzgerald who took a close look at the modern American city through the politics of race and class. Finally, we will turn to more recent works of fiction that ask the question "What does it mean to be an American writer?" while deeming the very question problematic. Here we will read Leslie Mormon Silko, Toni Morrison, Don DiLillo, Jhumpa Lahiri and Wallace Stegner. Course requirements include one in-class presentation, two critical essays, and a final exam.
updated 2006-10-05
