American Literature, 1865-1945: The Americanization of Power
ENGL 204
Spring 2025
| Section:
01
02
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| Crosslisting:
AMST 235 |
| Course Cluster and Certificates: Urban Studies |
Together we'll explore not only the complexities of American literature from the 1860s to 1940s, but also how this literature is usable today and excels as critical equipment that can advance our understanding of the modern Americanization of power (put narrowly, we'll develop insights into a "democratic" capitalism, what some called a "Robber Baron" plutocracy, that pulled off and contrived to maintain systemic class, gender, and ethnoracial hierarchies to reproduce its power). As we unpack the relationship of literary form and social form, we'll trace connections between historical developments such as the gothic genre and gender ideologies, domestic romance and the social reproduction of labor, realism and mass-urbanism, naturalism and immigration, modernism and imperialism, and narrative experimentation and anti-racism. The creative works of Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Henry James, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Charles Chesnutt, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O'Neill, Nathanael West, William Faulkner, Richard Wright, and Zora Neale Hurston will help teach us to be more imaginative readers of literature, ourselves, and what America was, is, and might be. While pooling ideas about this, we'll savor the pleasures of reading inspiring and transformative writing. This is very much a thinking-intensive course. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Lecture | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: (AMST)(ENGL)(ENGL-Literature) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 90% or above |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
The following authors will be featured: Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Henry James, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Charles Chesnutt, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O'Neill, Nathanael West, William Faulkner, Richard Wright, and Zora Neale Hurston.
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Examinations and Assignments:
Assignments TBA. Each week students will take turns selecting and raising questions about key passages for our collective unpacking. A Teaching Assistant will work closely with the students as they prepare to do this. Our TA will also play a key role in our class discussions and debates.
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
:
Our mode will be part lecture/part discussion. During our 2 hours and 50 minutes, we'll take two 10-minute breaks.
This course fulfills the Literary History 3 and American Literature requirements of the English major. Also, it satisfies the pre-1900 requirement for the American Studies major and, as the AMST website notes, is a recommended course for students interested in majoring in American Studies.
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| Instructor(s): Pfister,Joel Times: .M..... 07:10PM-10:00PM; Location: RUSSMILLET; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 30 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 2 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 12 | FR: 13 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 1 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 1 | Unranked: 0 |
| SECTION 02 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
:
Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
The following authors will be featured: Emily Dickinson, Mark Twain, Stephen Crane, Henry James, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Charles Chesnutt, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Langston Hughes, Ernest Hemingway, Eugene O'Neill, Nathanael West, William Faulkner, Richard Wright, and Zora Neale Hurston.
|
Examinations and Assignments:
:
Assignments TBA. Each week students will take turns selecting and raising questions about key passages for our collective unpacking. A Teaching Assistant will work closely with the students as they prepare to do this. Our TA will also play a key role in our class discussions and debates. |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
:
Our mode will be part lecture/part discussion. During our 2 hours and 50 minutes, we'll take two 10-minute breaks.
This course fulfills the Literary History 3 and American Literature requirements of the English major. Also, it satisfies the pre-1900 requirement for the American Studies major and, as the AMST website notes, is a recommended course for students interested in majoring in American Studies.
|
| Instructor(s): Pfister,Joel Times: ..T.... 01:20PM-04:10PM; Location: RUSSMILLET; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 30 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 3 | | |
| Seats Available: 9 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 12 | FR: 13 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 1 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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