311 - 02: American Literature I
Fall 2007
Meeting Times: TTh 9:30am-10:45am
Room: DA 107
Registration Number: 1480
Class Description:
In English 311 we will read and consider a wide range of texts written by Americans (or, in some cases, by people who visited 1. Textual analysis: To what possible interpretations do these works lend themselves? How does textual evidence support or undermine particular interpretations? How do different works of literature fit together or speak to one another? 2. Contextualization: How do works of literature speak of (and to) the historical moments in which they were produced? What kinds of dissonances, productive or otherwise, arise when twenty-first-century readers approach these texts? 3. Canonization: How are certain works deemed worthy of study, while others are left out? What assumptions and decisions do we make in assigning value to works of literature? How are "classics" made and how are we, as participants in a university course, involved in that process? What other versions of American literary history are possible or defensible? How do the conventional periods into which we divide American literature?often related to the various wars in which the
Special Notes:
We'll use the Norton Anthology of American Literature, 7th edition, volumes A and B, along with a couple of supplemental texts to be announced.
Required work will include two examinations, a formal interpretive essay, several unannounced quizzes, and active participation in class discussion.
See other sections of this course
