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Academic Year 2003/2004

Making History in the Contemporary American Novel
ENGL 343 FA

Despite the threat to history that some critics see lurking in postmodernism, much recent American fiction is preoccupied with the past. This course will explore the different kinds of historicism fostered by contemporary novelists. What visions of American history do these novels construct and contest? How, if at all, do they change our notion of what counts as history? This course will try to understand what is at stake in the turn to history and how it shapes our understanding of the postmodern.

MAJOR READINGS

Selected criticism and theory.
Toni Morrison, BELOVED
Don DeLillo, LIBRA
Phillip Roth, AMERICAN PASTORAL
Joan Didion, THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

One short and one long essay, and a final exam.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course is open to majors and non-majors excluding first-year students.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture/Discussion

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2004

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