LFU:online

Department of American Studies Department of American Studies

Mag. Margarethe Karl-Goodwin Mag. Margarethe Karl-Goodwin

610016

The American Novel in the First Half of the 20th Century

PS 2

weekly

each semester

English

In this course, we will be looking at how the American novel developed and changed during the first half of the 20th century. The ways in which the novel evolved during that time can be read as a direct response to the profound changes taking place in American society, such as the growing influence of capitalism and psychoanalytical theory, the ’Golden Twenties,’ the Great Depression and the two World Wars. It is the aim of this course to explore these connections between the novel and American society at large by analysing texts by various authors, including, among others, Willa Cather, William Faulkner, and Zora Neale Hurston. These texts analyse American reality from various perspectives: male, female and ethnic (African-American). All these different voices present distinct views of American society, which, when combined, offer a multi-faceted image of the literary and cultural movements during the first half of the 20th century.

Lecture sessions, group discussions, student presentations

Course Requirements: regular attendance, active participation, weekly preparation, presentation, written paper (10-12 pp.), final exam

Students must have passed the "Introduction to American Literature and Culture" to attend this course