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Academic Year 2004/2005

Making History in the Contemporary American Novel
ENGL 343 SP

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. BELOVED, Toni Morrison; LIBRA, Don DeLillo; AMERICAN PASTORAL, Phillip Roth; THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER, Joan Didion.

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.

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-21-2005

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