This course will give an introduction to the diversity of American literature. Reading and analyzing texts from pre-colonial times to the present, we will try to get an overview of important movements and authors. In our discussions of writings taken from all main literary genres we will attempt to determine some of the characteristics of American literature in general and of individual periods and writers in particular. Short introductory lectures on the various periods of American literature will provide the literary and cultural contexts for our discussion of exemplary texts.
For the first session, students are expected to bring and be ready to discuss the texts on pages 1 to 5 of the reader.
Texts for acquisition:
- Course Reader (available at the copy shop located at Reckhammerweg 4 by the first week of the semester)
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter. Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 978-0199537808.
- Tony Kushner, Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes. Revised edition. Theatre Communications Group, 2013. ISBN: 978-1559363846.
- Lehrende(r): Florian Freitag