Title: LITERARY TOPICS

PRQ:

Topic:  Post World War II Film and Literature

This class examines film and literature through the historical period of 1945-1970, considering issues of nationalism, class, race, gender, and sexuality through this era of cultural transformation.  We will discuss a historical context to works by various popular American and British authors and filmmakers from the period including Graham Greene, Patricia Highsmith, Tennessee Williams, Alfred Hitchcock, Carol Reed, Elia Kazan, and Norman Jewison. 

Short weekly reading/viewing response assignments; two 7-8 page papers; out-of-class viewing of assigned films; final exam

Chafe, William Henry, Harvard Sitkoff, Beth Bailey, eds. A History of Our Time: Readings On Postwar America. 8^th Edition. (Oxford University Press, 2011); Hansberry, Lorraine, A Raisin in the Sun (Any Edition); Highsmith, Patricia. Strangers on a Train. (W.W. Norton); Greene, Graham . The End of the Affair. (Penguin Classics); Greene, Graham. The Third Man (Penguin Classics); Williams, Tennessee. Streetcar Named Desire. (Any Edition); TBA E-Reserve Readings