SubjectsSubjects(version: 945)
Course, academic year 2023/2024
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American Literature II - OCRA20AJ17
Title: Americká literatura II
Guaranteed by: Katedra anglického jazyka a literatury (41-KAJL)
Faculty: Faculty of Education
Actual: from 2021
Semester: summer
E-Credits: 0
Examination process: summer s.:
Hours per week, examination: summer s.:5/9, Ex [HT]
Capacity: unlimited / 0 (unknown)
Min. number of students: unlimited
4EU+: no
Virtual mobility / capacity: no
State of the course: taught
Language: English
Teaching methods: combined
Teaching methods: combined
Additional information: https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=2327 enrolment key: poe
Guarantor: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D.
Teacher(s): Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D.
Annotation -
Last update: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D. (31.01.2022)
This course aims to give the students a general outline of the most significant events in American literature, focusing largely, but not exclusively, on canonical authors. Seminars are generally preceded by an audiovisual presentation of a particular literary movement, including its social and cultural background. This is then followed by a close reading session which focuses on the selected seminar texts (short stories, plays, extracts etc.).
Descriptors -
Last update: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D. (01.02.2022)

If distance learning is to be incorporated during the semester, instruction will be via Zoom. Attendance requirements will be the same as for face-to-face instruction. Please follow the updates on the Moodle page.

Literature -
Last update: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D. (31.01.2022)

Secondary sources:

1.      Ruland, R., Bradbury, M. From Puritanism to Postmodernism, New York: Viking Penguin, 1991. ISBN-13: 978-0140144352.

2.      Procházka, M., Quinn, J., Ulmanová, H., Roraback, E. Lectures on American Literature. Praha, 2002. ISBN 9788024619965.

3.      High, Peter, An Outline of American Literature, London: Longman, 2007

4.      Lauter, P., Yarborough, R., Cheung, K., Molesworth, C.  The Heath Anthology of American literature, Early Nineteenth Century: 1800 - 1865, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005. ISBN-13: 9780618532988.

5.      Lauter, P., Yarborough, R., Alberti, J., Brady, M. The Heath Anthology of American literature: Volume A: the Beginnings to 1900, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008. ISBN: 0-618-54250-7.

6.      Lauter, P., Yarborough, R., Bayer, J., Molesworth, C., Cheung, K. The Heath Anthology of American literature: Volume C: Late Nineteenth Century, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2004. ISBN-13: 9780618532995.

7.      Gates, H.L., McKay, N. The Norton Anthology of African-American Literature, New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. ISBN-13: 978-0393911558

Requirements to the exam -
Last update: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D. (31.01.2022)

All ten (10) topics for the oral exam aligns with state exam topics. See Moodle.

Syllabus -
Last update: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D. (31.01.2022)

1.

Lecture: 19-20th century US poetry

Close reading: Walt Whitman, Ezra Pound, Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Maya Angelou, Gwendolyn Brooks

 

2.

Lecture: American Modernism I

Close reading: William Faulkner: Barn Burning; A Rose for Emily

Ernest Hemingway: A Clean Well-Lighted Place, Hills Like White Elephants

 

3.

Lecture: American Modernism II (Jazz Age)

Close reading: F.S. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

 

4.

Lecture1: Southern Gothic II; Lecture 2: Beat Generation

Close reading: Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird (3 úryvky)

Close reading: Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1 úryvek)

 

5.

Lecture: American drama I

Close reading: Tennessee Williams, Streetcar Named Desire

 

6.

Lecture: American drama II, Drama of the Absurd

Close reading: Edward Albee, The Zoo Story

 

7.

Lecture: Jewish American Literature

Close reading: Bernard Malamud, Armistice

 

8.

Lecture: African American Literature

Close reading: Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

 

9.

Lecture: US Postmodernism

Close reading: Michael Cunningham, The Hours (film + 5 úryvky)

Course completion requirements -
Last update: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D. (01.02.2022)

Active class participation, a medium-sized essay and the oral exam described and illustrated in Moodle.

Learning resources -
Last update: Mgr. Jakub Ženíšek, Ph.D. (31.01.2022)

To access the video lectures and reading assignments for seminars, pls. go to:

https://dl1.cuni.cz/course/view.php?id=2327

 

enrolment key: poe

 
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