This survey course examines American literature from the beginning of the twentieth century to present, covering two important literary movements, modernism and postmodernism. The course is designed to introduce students to the ideas and pleasures literature offers us, and encourages students to think about the texts and discuss them in the class. Students are also asked to keep a journal of their thoughts and responses to themes and ideas expressed in the texts.
1. Modernist poetry (Ezra Pound, W. C. Williams, e. e. cummings, Wallece Stevens, T. S. Eliot) 2. Modernist fiction (Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway) 3. Harlem Renaissance (Langston Hughes, Claude McCay, Zora Neale Hurston, blues lyrics) 4. Southern literature (William Faulkner, Flannery OConnor) 5. Drama (Edward Albee) 6. Jewish authors (I. B. Singer, Woody Allen, Art Spiegelman) 7. Postmodern literature I (Donald Barthelme, John Barth) 8. Postmodern literature II (Kathy Acker, Joyce Carol Oates) 9. Afro-American literature (Lucille Clifton, June Jordan, Alice Walker) 10. Ethnic literature (Sandra Cisneros, Amy Tan, Sherman Alexie, Dian Million, Ofelia Zepeda) 11. Contemporary poetry (Frank OHara, Allen Ginsberg, Sylvia Plath, Laurie Anderson)