Harlem Renaissance Literature
ENGL 286
Fall 2025
| Section:
01
|
| Crosslisting:
AFAM 286, AMST 282 |
During this course, students will read canonical and popular literary works by early 20th-century African American authors in tandem with the vibrant body of literary criticism that emerged from this cultural moment in order to arrive at a richer understanding of how the early 20th-century African American canon was curated and proliferated. To this end, we will pay special attention to the role of anthologies and literary magazines (such as "The Crisis," "Opportunity," and "Fire!!") in collating an emergent modern African American literary tradition. At the end of this course, students will be familiar with not only the key authors and works of the Harlem Renaissance, but also with the central debates about the direction and uses of African American literature in the early 20th century. These discussions of the uses and selection criteria of the book-form anthology on the one hand, and the serial literary magazine on the other will prepare students for one of the main assignments: curating a new syllabus entry for future versions of this course. The aim of this assignment is to alert students to the politics of knowledge production that determine which texts get taught, anthologized, and studied. Finally, the differing lengths and types of course assignments will require students to learn how to present their ideas across a variety of genres (syllabus proposal, annotated bibliography, research paper, short close-reading paper). |
|
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Discussion | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
|
Fulfills a Requirement for: (African American Studies Minor)(African American Studies)(English) |
|
Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Required Texts* (available at the Wesleyan Book Store)
Zora Neale Hurston, THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD
Nella Larsen, PASSING
David Levering Lewis, WHEN HARLEM WAS IN VOGUE
Alain Locke, THE NEW NEGRO: VOICES OF THE HARLEM RENAISSANCE
Claude McKay, HOME TO HARLEM
Jean Toomer, CANE
Wallace Thurman, INFANTS OF THE SPRING
*Other texts will be available on Moodle
|
Examinations and Assignments:
8 Blog post, 2 short papers, annotated bibliography + final presentation |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Contributes to the fulfillment of ENGL major requirements: American Literature, Literary History 3, elective. |
| Instructor(s): Bilbija,Marina Times: ..T.R.. 08:50AM-10:10AM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 17 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 2 | JR non-major: 2 | SO: 3 | FR: 2 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
|
|