Literature of the United States II: From Modernism to 1950
Code: 106305Credits: 6
| Degree programme | Type | Course |
|---|---|---|
| English Studies | OB | 3 |
| English and Catalan Studies | OP | 3 |
| English and Catalan Studies | OP | 4 |
| English and Spanish Studies | OP | 3 |
| English and Spanish Studies | OP | 4 |
| English and French Studies | OP | 4 |
| English and Classics Studies | OP | 3 |
| English and Classics Studies | OP | 4 |
Contact lecturer
- Name :
- Laura Gimeno Pahissa
- Email :
- laura.gimeno@uab.cat
Teaching staff
- Clara Román Vanden Berghe
Group languages
You can consult this information at the end of the document.
Prerequisites
- Students should have passed "Literatura anglesa s.XX" and "19th century American Literature".
-
A C1(advanced or C2(proficiency), Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment is required. C1 allows the student to: understand a wide range of long and/or complex texts; express themselves fluently and spontaneously with having to search around for words or expressions; use language efficiently in various social, academic, and professional contexts; demonstrate skill in the structure of their writing, particular in the use of connectors and other forms of relating ideas. C2 allows the student to understand practically any text, whether oral or written, with as little additional effort as possible; to summarise information from a wide variety of sources, articulate facts and discussion, presenting them in a coherent fashion; to express themselves fluently and accurately, including nuances in the most complex of situations.
- History and Culture of the U.S. is a necessary previous requirement to take this course.
Objectives
"American Literature II: From Modernism until the first half of the 20th century" provides an overview to the fiction and poetry written by American authors during Modernism. The subject involves the reading, analysis, debate and interpretation of the selected works.
On successfully completing American Literature II: From Modernism until the first half of the 20th century students will be able to:
• Demonstrate a good level of reading knowledge as regards the key literary works of American Modernism.
• Produce literary criticism through essays and presentations.
• Use the resources of any university library relating to material on the literature of American Modernism.
• Express an informed opinion on the literary texts studied throughout this course.
Learning outcomes
- Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
- Locate specialised and academic information and select this according to its relevance.
- Incorporate ideas and concepts from published sources into work, citing and referencing appropriately.
- Express oneself effectively orally and in writing using expository and argumentative techniques.
- Express oneself orally and in writing in English in an academic register, using appropriate terminology in relation to the study of American literature.
- Understand specialised academic texts on research in fields related to American authors and texts.
- Identify and describe the characteristics of the American texts studied.
- Interpret, comment and write essays on texts written by American authors and be able to distinguish their most relevant characteristics.
- Critically analyse American texts in order to understand the complexity of American literature and its historical and cultural context.
- Understand and analyse the diversity of the United States in terms of culture, race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, and linguistic and ideological identity.
- Understand specialised academic texts on research in fields related to American authors and texts at Mastery level (C2).
- Identify the main arguments of a written text.
- Write a summary of contents in a coherent and cohesive way.
- Organise content clearly and appropriately for oral presentation.
- Apply the basic principles of literary text analysis.
- Identify primary and secondary sources.
- Carry out basic bibliographic research.
- Understand specialised academic texts (C2) on research in fields related to American authors and texts.
- Use the appropriate resources and methodology for an academic work.
- Understand specialised academic texts at higher-proficient-user level (C2) on research in fields related to American authors and texts.
Contents
The course is divided into five units:
Unit 1 Kate Chopin: The Awakening (1899)
Unit 2 Ernest Hemingway:The Sun Also Rises (1926)
Unit 3 F.S. Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby (1925)
Unit 4 Nella Larsen: Passing (1929)
Unit 5 Modernist poetry: selections of poetry by William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, H.D.
For the four set texts, please procure an annotated edition with notes and introduction, such as Oxford World's Classics or Penguin Classics.
Learning activities and methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Directed activities | 50 | 2 | |
| Autonomous activities | 50 | 2 | |
| Supervised activities | 25 | 1 |
Assessment
Continuous assessment activities
| Title | Weight | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Written assessment 2 - exam | 45% | 2 | 0.08 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 |
| Class participation and in-class activities | 10% | 8 | 0.32 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 |
| Written assessment 1 in-class essay | 45% | 15 | 0.6 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 |
1.Written assessment.
Mid-term paper, 45%
Exam, 45%
The student will write academic texts expressing a critical judgement on American literature of modern American literature.
2. Class participation and groupwork = 10% (in-class debates and group tasks in class).
3. PLEASE NOTE:
-All the subjects in this degree follow continuous assessment.
-Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 30% of the assessment items.
-The student’s command of English will be taken into account when marking all exercises and for the final mark.
-Re-assessment conditions:
Re-assessment for this subject requires a content-synthesis test, for which the following conditions are applicable:
-The student must previously have submitted a minimum of two-thirds of the course-assessment items.
-The student must previously have obtained an average overall grade equal to or higher than 3.5.
-The following activities are not eligible for reassessment: in-class tasks and class participation
Students can't attend the reàssessment to improve their marks. If the student can't attend the exam because s/he is sick, they will have to agree on an alternative date with the teacher.
-Procedure for Reviewing Grades Awarded: On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place.
In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
Irregularities refer, for instance, to copying in an exam, copying from sources without indiacting authorship, or a misuse of AI such as presenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be re-assessed.]
Single assessment:
Essay 40%
Passage commentary 30%
Comparative analysis 30%
AU students must complete all AU activities to access re-assessment.
USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI): This subject entirely prohibits the use of AI techonologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding task will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.
Examination Dates and Submission Deadlines: Requests to change examination dates or submission deadlines for personal reasons will not be granted unless they are illness related and a doctor's certificate can be provided; Erasmus and exchange students who cannot take an exam or submit an essay for justifiable reasons will need to submit to their teacher(s) written proof of the latter issued by their home university.
Bibliography
COMPULSORY READINGS
1. Kate Chopin, The Awakening.
Penguin edition. ISBN: 9780142437322 or ISBN: 978024134142
Oxford World's Classics edition. ISBN: 9780199536948
Vintage. ISBN: 9780099540779
2.Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
Penguin edition. ISBN: 978-0143136774,or ISBN: 978-0143139362
Scribner's Hemingway Library ISBN: 978-1501121968
3.F.S.Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Penguin edition. ISBN: 9780141182636
Oxford edition. ISBN: 9780199536405
4. Nella Larsen, Passing
Penguin edition. ISBN: 9780142437278
5.Modernist Poetry: selections of Modernist poetry will be provided to the students
SECONDARY BIBLIOGRAPHY
More specific bibliography will be provided during the semester.
Beer, Janet. Kate Chopin. Edith Wharton and Charlotte Perkins Gilman: Studies in Short Fiction. London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1997.
Bigsby, Christopher. The Cambridge Companion to Modern American Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Cowley, Malcolm. Exile’s Return: A Literary Odyssey of the 1920s. New York: Penguin, 1994.
Gray, Richard J. A History of American Literature. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004.
Lewis, Pericles. The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.
Mitchell, Angelyn (ed). Within the Circle: An Anthology of African American Literary Criticism from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present. Durham: Duke University Press, 1994.
Showalter, Elaine. A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bardstreet to Annie Proulx. London: Little, Brown Book Group,2010.
Sollors, Werner (ed.). A New Literary Historyof America. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.
Digital resources: NIU is required.
Beer, J. (ed). The Cambridge Companion to Kate Chopin, 2008.
Donaldson, S. (ed). The Cambridge Companion to Hemingway, 1996.
Freedman, J. (ed). The Cambridge Companion to Henry James, 1998.
Hutchinson, G. (ed). The Cambridge Companion to the Harlem Renaissance, 2007.
Kalaidjian, W. (ed). The Cambridge Companion to American Modernism, 2005.
Marshall, G. (ed). The Cambridge Companion to the Fin de Siècle, 2007.
Miller, J. (ed). The Cambridge Companion to the American Modernist Novel, 2015.
Phillips, C.N. (ed). The Cambridge Companion to American Poets, 2018.
Prigozy, Ruth (ed). The Cambridge Companion to F Scott Fitzgerald, 2001.
Software
Not applicable
Course groups and languages
The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE
| Type of teaching | Group | Language | Semester | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| (TE) Theory | 1 | English | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | English | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (TE) Theory | 2 | English | first semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 2 | English | first semester | morning-mixed |