LFU:online

To identify recurring themes in the literature of California from the 1850s to the present day and to gain an understanding of what constitutes both a Californian genre specifically and a regional literature generally.

Bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Sierra Nevada mountain range to the east, California can be considered a region set apart from the United States, and Californian literature can also be analyzed as a distinct regional body of work with recurring themes. This course will consider the key concerns of Californian literary production from the Gold Rush era of the mid-nineteenth century (which coincided with California’s attainment of US statehood in 1850) to contemporary literature focusing on the technological boom in Silicon Valley. We will study literature that has celebrated the beauty of the Californian landscape, on the one hand, and critiqued the exploitation of the land through mining and industrialization, on the other. We will look at the crystallization of a distinctive Californian literature in the inter-war period, which resulted in the creation of two Californian genres: noir detective fiction and the Hollywood novel. From the post-World War II period to the present day, we will consider how the region’s literature has reflected its social and ethnic diversity in works produced by African American (Chester Himes), Asian American (Maxine Hong Kingston), and LGBT writers (Maggie Nelson).

Lecture inputs, weekly viewings/readings, student presentations, group discussions.

Active class participation, student presentations, writing assignments and/or term paper.

As far as possible, course materials and selected primary and secondary sources will be posted on OLAT.

Prerequisite 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 (457): positive completion of compulsory module 13

For the Teacher Training Program (Lehramtsstudium: 344): 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.