Department of English > Courses
Course Details
| Fall 2011 | ENGL 375.0001 | MWF | 1:00 - 1:50 | RH 202 | Deborah DeRosa | |
Title: THE AMERICAN NOVELCourse Description: An intensive study of selected novels by such representative American authors as Cooper, Hawthorne, Melville, Mark Twain, Howells, Henry James, Dreiser, Cather, Lewis, Wolfe, Hemingway, and Faulkner.PRQ: | ||||||
| Detailed Course Description:What is culture? What is multiculturalism? How do American authors represent culture and/or multiculturalism? How do American novelists represent (accurately or not) American culture and values with reference to issues related to race, ethnicity, class, gender, and sexuality? Do men and women authors represent similar issues in the same way? The novels we will explore this semester beg the above questions and many more. Each author explores complex social issues in the context of multi-cultural America. As a participant in this course, you will work towards developing a sophisticated understanding of the complex cultural dynamics of American life represented in the American novel from about 1840 to the present. We will address various controversial topics. I expect all to participate respectfully and open-mindedly. | ||||||
| Course Requirements:We will work together to: 1. identify and analyze conflicts between culture that can lead to the oppression or reconciliation of self and/or community; 2. develop an understanding of the significance of culture and diversity (or lack of, hence intolerance) within the narrative; 3. identify, analyze, and develop an understanding of the experiences of diverse characters who reflect the diverse 21st century environment in which we live. In other words, how do these fictional characters reflect our own, very real, life-experiences? To what degree do we identify with the characters and how does such identification (or lack thereof) help us to learn about ourselves? To what degree can we use the fictional characters to breakdown cross-cultural boundaries to understand others who have had different life experiences due to their gender, sexual orientation, religion, socioeconomic status, and racial or ethnic group?; 4. Consider carefully lessons that we can glean from the narratives as they apply to contemporary social issues in America. Have the "-isms" we recognize so easily in the fictional texts changed much across the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries? In what ways HAVE things changed for the better? In what ways have things worsened? Are we truly a more multi-culturally receptive society, or do we say so to be PC?; 5. Decide how we, as members of this class, can work towards a more democratic society. You will do a SUBSTANTIAL amount of WRITING: weekly in-class quizzes, papers of increasing complexity, and exams. Each assignment will build on existing skills and introduce new critical thinking and writing strategies. Blackboard has links to important writing strategies and skills. | ||||||
| Required Texts:Novels (Tentative) Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables; Chopin, The Awakening; Crane, Maggie a Girl of the Streets; Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God; Naylor, Mama Day; Faulkner, As I Lay Dying; Allison, Bastard out of Carolina; Erdrich, Tracks. | ||||||
| Default Webboard Location: http://webboard.engl.niu.edu/default.asp?boardid=0 WebSite not set. Please contact Instructor for information. |
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