Literature of the United States III: From 1950 to the Present
Code: 106306Credits: 6
| Degree programme | Type | Course |
|---|---|---|
| English Studies | OB | 3 |
Contact lecturer
- Name :
- Laura Gimeno Pahissa
- Email :
- laura.gimeno@uab.cat
Group languages
You can consult this information at the end of the document.
Prerequisites
- Prior to do this subject, it is highly recommended that students have taken the following subjects: "US Literature 1" from the Second Year and "US Literature 2" from the Third Year of the English Studies degree.
- It is necessary to have a C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment."A C2 level of English allows students to: understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstruct arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.
Objectives
- This subject fosters the analysis, debate and interpretation of prose, poetry, and drama written in the United States from the second half of the twentieth century to the present.
- On successfully completing "US Literature 3", students will be able to: show a good level of reading comprehension and analysis of American literature from the period; produce written analyses of literary texts studied in class; manage secondary bibliography and databases; express an informed opinion on the 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.
Contents
UNIT 1 - Home Sweet Home
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)*
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1949)*
John Cheever, “Reunion” (1962) and "The Swimmer" (1964)
Louise Glück, selections from Descending Figure (1980) and The Seven Ages (2001)
Ilya Kaminsky, selections from Dancing in Odessa (2004)
UNIT 2 - Love, Loss and Loneliness:
James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room (1956)*
Sylvia Plath, selections from Ariel (1965) and Winter Trees (1971)
UNIT 3 - Rewriting History:
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse 5 (1969)*
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970)*
Louise Erdrich, "Shamengwa" (2002)
Students must purchase a copy of the texts marked with an asterisk (*): A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. The rest of the texts will be provided by the teacher.
Learning activities and methodology
| Title | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lectures, readings and debates | 50 | 2 | 4, 7, 8, 9 |
| Writing academic texts, assessment activities in the classroom | 25 | 1 | 3, 4, 7, 8 |
| Reading and Studying | 50 | 2 | 1, 2, 6, 7 |
Sessions will be organized around close reading of the texts. A historical, social and cultural context of the United States in the period studied provided in class (or on Moodle) will reinforce the textual analysis. Texts will be discussed in class (or on Moodle), so it is PARAMOUNT for students to have read the texts conscientiously before class sessions. Students are required to PARTICIPATE ACTIVELY in class discussions.
Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.
Assessment
Continuous assessment activities
| Title | Weight | Hours | ECTS | Learning outcomes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essay | 45 | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
| Class participation | 10 | 17 | 0.68 | 2, 3, 4, 6, 9, 10 |
| Exam | 45 | 4 | 0.16 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 |
Assessment is based on:
- Essay (in-class) = 45%
- Exam = 45%
- Class Participation = 10%
Exact dates for all assessment activities will be confirmed at the start of the course through a course calendar published on the class Moodle.
Please, note:
- All the subjects in this degree follow continous assessment, unless the student opts for single assessment (see below).
- All the exercises are COMPULSORY.
- A student is considered "no avaluable" if he or she has not submitted more than 30% of the total assessment weight.
- The student's command of English will be taken into account when marking all exercises and for the final mark. It will count as 25% of this mark for all the exercises.
- On carrying out each assessment 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.
SINGLE ASSESSMENT:
- If the student opts for single assessment, this will consist of an exam with three activities: a critical essay about one of the texts studied (50%) and two comparative analysis exercises (50%).
REASSESSMENT CONDITIONS:
- The reassessment exam is a two-hour content-synthesis test scheduled by the Faculty.
- The student must previouslyhave completed two thirds of the exercises in the continuous assessment or have completed all of the tasks for the single assessment.
- For the single assessment, the same reassessment method as continuous assessment will be used.
- Students whose final average mark is 3,5 or higher can go to reassessment.
- Students cannot attend the reassessment exam to improve their marks.
- With the approval of the coordinador of studies, the professor may decide to exclude from the reassessment process those activities that s/he considers irrecuperable, such as: oral presentations, group work, or tasks related to classroom activities.
- 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.
VERY IMPORTANT: Total or partial plagiarism of any of the exercises will automatically result in a (0) for the plagiarised exercise, and there will be no possibility to rewrite it. If this occurs again, the entire module will be failed. PLAGIARISM is copying text from unidentified sources (a single sentence or more), and passing it off as one's own work. This includes copying sentences or passages from the Internet and incorporating them unmodified into the text presented as your own), and it is a serious offence. It is crucial to respect other people's intellectual property and always identify any sources that have been used, as well as to take responsibility for the originality and authenticity of one's own text.
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.
USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI): This subject entirely prohibits theuse 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
UNIT 1 - Home Sweet Home
Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire (1947)*
Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman (1949)*
John Cheever, “Reunion” (1962) and "The Swimmer" (1964)
Louise Glück, selections from Descending Figure (1980) and The Seven Ages (2001)
Ilya Kaminsky, selections from Dancing in Odessa (2004)
UNIT 2 - Love, loss and loneliness
James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room (1956)*
Sylvia Plath, selections from Ariel (1965) and Winter Trees (1971)
UNIT 3 - Rewriting History
Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse 5 (1969)*
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970)*
Louise Erdrich, "Shamengwa" (2002)
Students must purchase a copy of the texts marked with an asterisk (*): A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams, Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller, Giovanni's Room by James Baldwin, Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. The other texts will be provided by the teacher.
Further reading for each work will be provided throughout the semester.
GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
Ashton, Jennifer. The Cambridge Companion to American Poetry since 1945. Edited by Jennifer Ashton, Cambridge University Press, 2013, https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139032674.
Belletto, Steven. American Literature in Transition, 1950–1960. Edited by Steven Belletto, 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108289542.
Burn, Stephen J. American Literature in Transition, 1990–2000. Edited by Stephen J. Burn, 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316477069.
Curnutt, Kirk. American Literature in Transition, 1970–1980. Edited by Kirk Curnutt, Cambridge University Press, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316584484.
Duvall, John N. (John Noel). The Cambridge Companion to American Fiction after 1945. Edited by John N. Duvall, Cambridge University Press, 2011, https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL9780521196314.
Listengarten, Julia, and Stephen Di Benedetto. The Cambridge Companion to American Theatre since 1945. New edition, Amazon, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108648134.
Miller, D. Quentin (Daniel Quentin). American Literature in Transition, 1980–1990. Edited by D. Quentin Miller, 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108234856.
Olster, Stacey. The Cambridge Introduction to Contemporary American Fiction. 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107278813.
Parrish, Timothy. The Cambridge Companion to American Novelists. Edited by Timothy Parrish, Cambridge University Press, 2012, https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781139003780.
Richardson, Mark Steed. The Cambridge Companion to American Poets. Edited by Mark Richardson, Cambridge University Press, 2015, https://doi.org/10.1017/CCO9781316403532.
Smith, Rachel Greenwald. American Literature in Transition, 2000–2010. Edited by Rachel Greenwald Smith, 1st ed., Cambridge University Press, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316569290.
Wyatt, David. American Literature in Transition, 1960–1970. Edited by David Wyatt, Cambridge University Press, 2018, https://doi.org/10.1017/9781316691663.
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 | second semester | morning-mixed |
| (PAUL) Classroom practices | 1 | English | second semester | morning-mixed |