American Literature of World War II and Later

Curriculum Guideline

Effective Date:
Return to Course
Print Guideline
Course
ENGL 3149
Discontinued
No
Course Code
ENGL 3149
Descriptive
American Literature of World War II and Later
Department
English
Faculty
Language, Literature & Performing Arts
Credits
4.00
Start Date
End Term
201430
PLAR
No
Semester Length
15 weeks
Max Class Size
25
Contact Hours
4 hours per week
Method(s) Of Instruction
Lecture
Learning Activities

Some or all of the following methods will be used:

  1. lecture/discussion;
  2. group work;
  3. peer review;
  4. independent research;
  5. instructor feedback on students’ work;
  6. individual consultation; and
  7. presentation (individual or group)
Course Description
This course is a survey of key authors and trends in modern and contemporary American writing since World War II.
Course Content

All third-year English courses share the following features:

  1. Students are presumed to have had first-year level instruction and experience in writing critical essays on literary subjects.
  2. Students are required to read in the course subject area beyond the texts assigned by the instructor.
  3. Students are required to incorporate into their oral and written coursework secondary source materials which may include biographical information, literary criticism or theory, unassigned texts by the author under study, relevant cultural or intellectual history, or other aesthetic works such as music or visual art.

Readings and topics vary with each instructor’s presentation of a course, but all course materials are consistent with the objectives and outcomes outlined in Section M.

Additionally, in English 3149 

  1. Students will explore American writing from World War II to the present, with attention to both aesthetic and theoretical innovation;
  2. Students will study the representation of race, class, and/or gender in American writing, as well as the writerly concerns of the postmoderns; the aesthetic arguments between postwar generations; or the socio-politics of the 1960s, ‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, and 00’s as presented from various literary points of view.
  3. Since the course extends to the contemporary, new authors and new schools of literary thought may be included as they come forward.
Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of any third-year English literature course, students should be able to

  1. read and analyze literary texts with increased skill and insight;
  2. integrate their understanding of literature into an evolving awareness of relevant cultural and historical contexts and perspectives;
  3. perceive connections among literary texts across genres, historical periods, and/or cultural contexts;
  4. conduct independent research to supplement the course material and effectively integrate this information into course assignments; and
  5. write different kinds of literary analyses, such as thematic, technical, or theoretical.

Upon completion of English 3149, students should also have

  1. developed an appreciation of the formal innovations achieved in American writing between World War II and the present;
  2. become familiar with a variety of theoretical perspectives, such as post-modernism, post-structuralism, feminism, Marxism or cultural studies, which are vital to the period; and
  3. developed an understanding of the unique cultural, political, and historical conditions out of which the literature arises, and to which it responds.
Means of Assessment
  1. A minimum of two academic essays and a final exam worth at least 80% of the course grade (combined total).
  2. A maximum of 20% of the course grade may be based on informal writing (quizzes, short answer tests); oral reports/presentations; participation/preparation grades; and/or other non writing-intensive assignments.

Sample Assignment Structure 

  • Two essays 50%
  • Class presentation 20%
  • Final examination 30%
Textbook Materials

Texts will vary with authors and genres selected by the instructor, and may include shorter readings compiled in custom course packs.  The following list represents a cross-section of late modernist, postmodern and contemporary possibilities that an instructor might draw upon.

  • Albee, Edward. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  • Allen, Donald and George F. Butterick, eds. The Postmoderns
  • DiYanni, Robert, Ed.  Modern American Poets: Their Voices and Visions
  • Joan Didion, Play It As it Lays
  • Doolittle, Hilda (H.D.).  Trilogy
  • Ellison, Ralph.  Invisible Man
  • Kerouac, Jack.  On the Road
  • Kingston, Maxine Hong.  The Woman Warrior
  • Kushner, Tony.  Angels in America
  • Mailer, Norman.  The Armies of the Night
  • Mamet, David.  Glengarry Glenn Ross
  • Miller, Arthur.  Death of a Salesman
  • Morrison, Toni.  Beloved
  • Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita
  • Pynchon, Thomas.  The Crying of Lot 49
  • Silko, Leslie Marmon.  Storyteller
  • Wolfe, Tom.  The Pump House Gang
Prerequisites

Any TWO university-transfer first-year English courses, or ONE first-year university-transfer English course and ONE first-year university-transfer CRWR course, AND a minimum of 45 credit hours.