LFU:online

Students will obtain an overview of the most important developments in US-American literary history in the 20^th and the 21^st century and their respective cultural contexts.

Starting with a brief historical summary of relevant precedents, this lecture focuses on US-American literary history from 1900 up until today. It includes the most important aesthetic developments in various genres with particular concern for their cultural, social, political and medial contexts. This includes the disciplinary history of American Studies as a field, its practices of canonization, as well as other theoretical issues, including current paradigms and discourses. The lecture will combine a broad overview with extensive analyses of exemplary texts.

lecture, weekly mandatory readings

Students will take an oral exam on selected sessions, based on the reading list.

As an overview: Richard Gray, A History of American Literature (Wiley-Blackwell 2011) und Linda Wagner-Martin, A History of American Literature: 1950 to the Present (Wiley-Blackwell, 2012)

All mandatory texts for the lecture will be provided as a PDF on OLAT.

for the Bachelor Program (612): positive completion of compulsory module 10