LFU:online

Familiarity with landmarks of American literature, as well as with their cultural, academic, and popular reception.

In recent times the boundaries between "highbrow" and "lowbrow" literature have become increasingly fuzzy. Yet for many the New York Times bestseller list symbolizes trivial entertainment, with truly worthwhile works of literature to be found elsewhere. Bestsellers, we believe, rely on economic shrewdness, true literature on artistic integrity. But what characterizes "artistic quality"? What’s the difference between "highbrow" and "lowbrow" literature in terms of narrative structure, content, and style of writing, and how useful is it to stress the difference? How do economic considerations further or obstruct the production of "quality literature"? And how does one market "quality"?

In order to investigate these (seeming?) contradictions between highbrow and popular literature, we will compare bestsellers like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (2003) with canonical works like William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury (1929). We will analyze the books’ status between art and commerce, between critical, academic, and popular reception.

Lecture inputs, presentations, group discussions

Active class participation, student presentations, reading and writing assignments, term paper

As far as possible, course materials and selected secondary sources will be posted on e-campus.

for the Bachelor Program (612): positive completion of compulsory module 10, 
for the Teacher Training Program (Lehramtsstudium: 344): VO2: Introduction to American Literary Studies
for BA Lehramt (344): positive completion of compulsory module 13

BA "old" (2009): PS2: American Literature
Teacher Training Program "old" (2001): PS2: American Literature

Due to substantial differences in the allocation of ECTS-Credits in various curricula (teacher training program - BA/MA English and American Studies), the requirements for this course vary. Information will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the course.