Syllabus
1. Lecture: 19-20th century US poetry Close reading: Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks
2. Lecture: American Modernism I Close reading: William Faulkner: Barn Burning; A Rose for Emily Ernest Hemingway: A Clean Well-Lighted Place, Hills Like White Elephants
3. Lecture: American Modernism II (Jazz Age) Close reading: F.S. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
4. Lecture1: Southern Gothic II; Lecture 2: Beat Generation Close reading: Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (3 úryvky) Close reading: Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1 úryvek)
5. Lecture: American drama I Close reading: Tennessee Williams, Streetcar Named Desire
6. Lecture: American drama II, Drama of the Absurd Close reading: Edward Albee, The Zoo Story
7. Lecture: Jewish American Literature Close reading: Bernard Malamud, Armistice
8. Lecture: African American Literature Close reading: Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
9. Lecture: US Postmodernism Close reading: Michael Cunningham, The Hours (film + 5 úryvky)
Annotation
This course aims to give the students a general outline of the most significant events in American literature, focusing largely, but not exclusively, on canonical authors. Seminars are generally preceded by an audiovisual presentation of a particular literary movement, including its social and cultural background.
This is then followed by a close reading session which focuses on the selected seminar texts (short stories, plays, extracts etc.).