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.)
21:352:223:H1:94251
DAY: 7/6-8/12
MTWTh 10:15-12:00
MCMILLAN             CONKLIN 319

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

AMERICAN LITERATURE OF THE 20TH CENTURY (3 cr.)
21:352:344:B1:94252
DAY: 5/26-7/2
MTWTh 1:00-2:45
HIRSCHBERG            HILL 202

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

SPECIAL TOPICS IN AMERICAN LITERATURE: THE BEAT MOVEMENT (3 cr.)
21:352:368:B1:92709
DAY: 5/26-7/2
MTWTh 10:15-12:00
BIVONA        CONKLIN 237

Writing Intensive.

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 AMERICAN LITERATURE: LITERATURE OF THE AMERICAN
REVOLUTION (3 cr.)
62:352:368:HQ:94254
EVE: 7/6-8/12
TTh 6:00-9:45
KINIRY         HILL 208

The course looks at some of the classic political texts as arguments and as literature, including "The Declaration of Independence," Tom Paine's "Common Sense", the U.S. Constitution, and the Federalist Papers.  We contrast the versions of the new republic as depicted by Federalist and Republican historians.  We look at the journalistic controversy surrounding the early national crisis expressed by the Alien and Sedition Acts.  And we look at how several writers of the next generation--Melville, Irving, Hawthorne, Cooper--dealt fictively with the Revolution.

RECENT TRENDS IN AMERICAN FICTION: THE POST 9/11 NOVEL (3 cr.)
62:352:420:B6:94253
EVE: 5/26-7/2
MW 6:00-9:45
GONZALEZ            HILL 215

Students will look closely at the contemporary working class narrative and investigate how writers explore labor and poverty in both rural and urban landscapes. Students will also consider the differences and similarities among varying ethnic and cultural American experiences. Course work includes weekly response papers and one final term paper synthesizing the five different texts required for this course. Authors include Jayne Anne Phillips, Dagoberto Gilb, Edward P. Jones, Suki Kim and Sherman Alexie.