Lehrende/r: Dr. Frank Obenland
Veranstaltungsart: Kolloquium
Anzeige im Stundenplan: 05.008.250
Semesterwochenstunden: 2
Unterrichtssprache: Englisch
Min. | Max. Teilnehmerzahl: - | 25
Anmeldegruppe: Exam Prep B.Ed. 250
Inhalt: During the first part of this class, students will be given the opportunity to develop a meaningful research project for their BA/BEd theses. At the beginning of the semester, students will decide on their own research topic, ideally in the field of American literary or cultural studies. Students are encouraged to choose their topic/idea from a previous seminar/class. During the first weeks of class, students will flesh out their ideas into a (hypothetical) topic by writing a written synopsis of their prospective BA theses. During the second part of this class, students will concentrate on a survey of American literary history in order to increase the scope of their literary experience. This will help students prepare for oral exams to be taken in their bachelor's and/or master's degree. All students will take on a presentation of a research project or a particular work, author or genre in order to fine-tune their language and presentation skills. Furthermore, all students will be asked on a regular basis to demonstrate the fact that they have fulfilled the reading assignments.
Empfohlene Literatur: The readings for this class are all taken from the current eighth edition of the Norton Anthology of American Literature (Vols. A-E). Of course, you can also work with other editions of these texts, however, the following selection from the Norton Anthology will serve as our main references. Colonial Period: - Anne Bradstreet, “The Prologue”; “The Author to Her Book”, “A Letter to Her Husband, Absent on Public Employment” - Edward Taylor, Meditation 8 (First Series) - Phillis Wheatley "On Being Brought from Africa to America" Early Republic: - Royall Tyler, The Contrast - Washington Irving, "Rip Van Winkle" Romanticism / American Renaissance: - Nathaniel Hawthorne "Young Goodman Brown" - Edgar Allan Poe "The Fall of the House of Usher" - Frederic Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?” Realism / Naturalism: - Emily Dickinson: “269 [249] [wild nights – wild nights!]; 466 [657] [i dwell in possibility -]; 1096 [986] [a narrow fellow in the grass] - Mark Twain "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County" - Stephen Crane: “The Open Boat” Modernism/Harlem Renaissance: - Carl Sandburg: “Chicago” - Robert Frost, “The Road Not Taken;” “Desert Places”, “Design” - T. S. Eliot, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" - Claude McKay, "If We Must Die" - Langston Hughes: “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”; “The Weary Blues” Beat movement: - Allen Ginsberg, “Howl” Postmodernism - Thomas Pynchon: “Entropy” - Sam Shepard, True West Contemporary Ethnic Literature - Louise Erdrich "Dear John Wayne" (poem, Norton Anthology) - Sherman Alexie "Why We Play Basketball" (poem; Norton Anthology) - August Wilson, Fences
