ENGL 223 - American Literature After 1865

1. Develop an ability to read and appreciate literature and literary thought as reflections of universal human concerns.
2. Develop an awareness of historical, sociological, and aesthetic influences that affected authors and led to the greater expansion of a distinctive national literature.
3. Understand and analyze influences on and within recent American literature, such as transitions from Romanticism to Realism, the development of regional literature, experimental literature, innovations in drama and theater, and the effects of major wars on American literary thought since the Civil War.
4. Examine the issues, conflicts, and themes in recent American literature through multiple frames of reference, such as the increased prominence of minority writers and the way literature has described, analyzed, and critiqued social institutions.
5. Identify characteristics of key literary genres in recent American literature, such as short fiction, the novel, poetry, and drama.
6. Demonstrate an awareness of the tools and terminology of literary analysis and literary criticism to conduct close readings, develop interpretations, and produce effective academic writing with the use of primary and secondary sources.

• Key texts from later periods of American literature (Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, Postmodernism)
• Major literary developments (such as post-war shifts in literature, evolution of the American novel, the avant-garde, transnationalism, the Harlem Renaissance, emergence of prevailing literary theories)
• Genres and subgenres (such as short fiction, novel, poetry, drama)
• Literary elements and literary devices (theme, symbol, form, style)

 
Course Addendum - Syllabus (Click to expand)