Literary Studies as American Studies
AMST 210
Fall 2007
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01
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How do stories work and what work can they do for students of American culture? How do they contribute to and complicate efforts to historicize and theorize power? This Junior Colloquium will engage these questions by reading literary texts as powerful modes of cultural and ideological critique. We will read a series of canonical and non-canonical works in the context of both literary studies (drawing on close-reading, genre theory, and narratology) and cultural criticism (including Marxism, feminist theory, ethnic studies, and transnational theory) with the goal of understanding precisely how literary texts - through their form and themes - instigate, challenge, and ultimately facilitate the kind of analysis at the heart of American Studies. Starting with works by Hawthorne and Melville that historicize various subjectivities and conceptualize the operation of power among individuals, groups, and nations, we will proceed to an array of modern, hybrid texts - comics, graphic novels, television, and film - that combine story and image to articulate new modes of social critique. We will conclude with three contemporary texts, an Iraq War documentary (Gunner Palace), a historical novel (Amalgamation Polka), and a graphic memoir (Fun Home) that incorporates the lessons of American studies in their very conception and form. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Interpretation, Writing |
| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA AMST |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Hawthorne, Melville, Twain, Gilman, Stein, Fitzgerald, Brooks, Okada, Spiegelman, and Coppola. Selections from LOCATING AMERICAN STUDIES and AMERICAN LITERATURE/LITERARY STUDY
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Examinations and Assignments:
Weekly, one paragraph "reading" exercises, a descriptive analysis of a 19th-century text (4-5 pages), class presentation on a critical essay, a final research paper 10-15 pages with related exercises (prospectus, presentation, etc.) |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
In addition to required screenings, this colloquium may include occasional presentations on literary method by Wesleyan scholars. We may also get the services of a Writing Assistant to help with the short exercises in individual conferences. |
| Instructor(s): Baraw,Charles Times: .....F. 01:10PM-04:00PM; Location: CAMS 1; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 3 | JR major: 12 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: 0 | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 0 | FR: 0 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 3 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 3 |
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