LFU:online

Institut für Amerikastudien Institut für Amerikastudien

Mag. Dr. Saskia Fürst Mag. Dr. Saskia Fürst

610004

American Literature: Echoes of the Past in Modern African American Literature

PS 2

5

wöch.

semestral

Englisch

To introduce the students to contemporary African American writers (poetry, plays, novels, speeches) and the ways in which they re-visit past events or use historical events in modern settings.

From slavery to the present, African American authors have surmounted considerable odds to tell their stories and their histories (both orally and written) to a black and white American audience. The challenge of resisting the “double-consciousness” of self, as phrased by W.E.B. DuBois, whereby African Americans view their selves through the perspective of the dominant society, is a topic of concern for contemporary writers. The authors in this course, for example Gloria Naylor (Mama Day), Toni Morrison (Beloved), LeRoi Jones (Dutchman) and Ernest J. Gaines (The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman), re-visit the past or use specific historical events to give voice to and their own representation of Black experiences in the US.

Introduction to the authors, class discussions, reflection on written and reading assignments

Active participation, reading and short writing assignments, term paper (10-15 pages)

Anmeldevoraussetzung/en im BA: positive Beurteilung der Pflichtmodule 3 und 16 Anmeldevoraussetzung im Lehramtsstudium: VO2: Introduction to American Literary Studies Entspricht im Lehramtsstudium (344): PS2: American Literature
Beginn: 3.10.2012