English, American Literature

Department of English
Hill Hall, Room 503
Phone:  973/353-5279, x503
Fax:      973/353-1450
http://english-newark.rutgers.edu

SEE ALSO: ENGLISH & ENGLISH, COMPOSITION & WRITING

SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE I (3 cr.)
62:352:223:H6:82625
EVE: 7/7-8/13
MW 6:00-9:30
HALL              CONKLIN 203

The effects of intellectual and social changes, and the relationship between important authors and their times. American literature to the Civil War.

SURVEY OF AMERICAN LITERATURE II (3 cr.)
62:352:224:HQ:83887
EVE: 7/7-8/13
TTh 6:00-9:30
KINIRY           HILL 209

Writing Intensive.

The effects of intellectual and social changes, and the relationship between important authors and their times. Civil War to the present.

AMERICAN POETRY (3 cr.)
21:352:301:H1:83893
DAY: 7/7-8/13
MTWTh 1:00-2:45
HALL             CONKLIN 203

American poetry and its backgrounds, critical standards, and techniques from the 17th century to the present.

STUDIES IN AMERICAN AUTHORS II: TONI MORRISON (3 cr.)
62:352:362:B6:83884
EVE: 5/27-7/3
TTh 6:00-9:30
BARTKOWSKI     HILL 210

We will read four of Morrison's novels, and some of her essays as well as some of the literary criticism about her work.  We will analyze how Morrison's fictions ask readers to contemplate the crosscurrents in African American life of history and storytelling, race and gender, family and community, identity and fragmentation.

Texts: Sula, Song of Solomon, Beloved, Love, Playing in the Dark (lectures/essays)

We will read selectively from published interviews with Morrison, and extensively in the secondary literature on Morrison's fictions.  Reading approximately a novel per week, plus 2-4 articles will immerse us in Morrison's universe and its problematics.  Two-three students per week will do presentations on the novels and related criticism.  Writing for the course will focus on a long paper (15-20 pages); however, this paper will be preceded by an outline and abstract, as well as a first, and, time permitting, a second draft produced in the second half of the session.  

SPECIAL TOPICS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE: THE BEAT MOVEMENT (3 cr.)
21:352:368:B1:83894
DAY: 5/27-7/3
MTWTh 10:15-12:00
BIVONA        CONKLIN 237

This course will focus on the major works of the Beat Generation, including Allen Ginsberg's HOWL and other Poems, Jack Kerouac's novels On the Road and The Dharma Bums, William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch, and various short works and poems from other authors. However, more than merely surveying the literature, the course will aim to incorporate various other cultural phenomenon of the period. A documentary film will serve as the theoretical base for this exploration and will be expanded upon with music from the period, recorded readings, historical information, and some exploration of the influence that Buddhist thought had on the writers. Ideally, we will aim to build a firm base for any further study and appreciation of the literary movement and its lingering influence on contemporary literature.

SPECIAL TOPICS IN BLACK STUDIES: SURVEY OF AFRICAN AMERICAN LITERATURE (3 cr.)
21:352:395:B1:83889
DAY: 5/27-7/3
MTWTh 10:15-12:00
BLAND         CONKLIN 446

Survey of the significant poetry and prose of black writers in Africa and the United States.

RECENT TRENDS IN AMERICAN FICTION (3 cr.)
21:352:420:B1:81264
DAY: 5/27-7/3
MTWTh 1:00-2:45
MCMILLAN          CONKLIN 343

American fiction from 1930 to the present.