Literature of the Harlem Renaissance
ENGL 286
Spring 2024
| Section:
01
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| Crosslisting:
AFAM 286, AMST 282 |
This course will examine the aesthetics and politics of the first modern African American literary movement, known today as the Harlem Renaissance. Students will learn about the national and global contexts of this movement as well as the various debates that it generated, many of which still reverberate with Black writers today. These include the relationship between Black art and propaganda, the burdens of racial representation and the constraints of respectability politics placed on the individual Black artist, the right to opacity, and the relationship between race and form.
In this course, students will become familiar with some of the key texts of the Harlem Renaissance, its national and international contexts, and its recurring themes and debates. Furthermore, by reading and writing across a wide range of texts from this movement--including poems, short stories, novels, essays and manifestos--students will learn how to engage with a variety of genres. The assignments for this course are thus designed to teach students to write about not only specific genres, but also recurring themes in works from the Harlem Renaissance. By the final project, students will be able to pivot from writing about discrete forms and themes to writing to specific audiences. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Student Option |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Major Requirement for: (AFAM-MN)(AFAM)(ENGL)(ENGL-Literature) |
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Past Enrollment Probability: 50% - 74% |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
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
Wallace Thurman, INFANTS OF THE SPRING
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Examinations and Assignments:
6 blog posts (200 words each); 1 take-home exam; 2 short essays (2-3pages);1 presentation; 7-9pp final paper
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Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Contributes to fulfillment of ENGL major requirements: American Literature, Literary History 3, elective. |
| Instructor(s): Bilbija,Marina Times: .M.W... 10:50AM-12:10PM; Location: DWNY200; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 19 | | SR major: 2 | JR major: 4 | | |
| Seats Available: 3 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 3 | JR non-major: 3 | SO: 6 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 1 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 1 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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