North American Literature II

Code:

MEAAM016

Acronym:

LNA2

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	American Literature

Instance: 2021/2022 - 2S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Anglo-American Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Masters in Anglo-American Studies

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
MEAA	10	MEAA - Study Plan	1	-	9	80	243

Teaching language

English

Objectives

The aim of this course is to address the literary production in the United States of America in the period spanning from the end of World War II to the late twentieth century, by examining the question “Who Sings the Nation-State?”. A selection of poets and novelists will be studied both on their own terms and in relation to key topics in the history of post-war North-American literature and culture, such as the Cold War, the Civil Rights Movement, the women’s liberation movements, the anti-war protests, the emergence of pop culture, and the rise of the U.S. as a global superpower. The verb “to sing” in the question “Who sings the nation-state?” may refer not only to forms of public protest and celebration, but also to forms of aesthetic adherence or resistance to hierarchic and monolithic understandings of culture, literature, and society. The course structure will,thus, lead students to find critical answers to the starting question, by understanding the power dynamics and historical tensions that characterize the liminal space of postwar American literature.

 

Learning outcomes and competences

 By the end of this course, students will be able to:

• better understand North-American literary, historical, and social contexts from the 1950s to the 1990s;
• expand their knowledge on a selection of North-American authors and their literary or artistic work;
• apply new methodologies and areas of research, drawing upon both primary and secondary sources;
• discuss how American literature examines issues of Americana, such as immigration and assimilation, narratives of resistance, narratives of slavery, and the consequences of race, class, gender, and religion divides;
• develop the ability to reflect on and critically think about literature and the world from different perspectives;
• communicate effectively about these topics in both writing and speech, drawing upon critical studies.

Working method

Presencial

Program

 

UNIT 1: WHO THINKS THE NATION-STATE?

1.1. Patterns of change (1950s-1990s)
1.2. Framing the frames: on frontiers, borders and belongings
1.3. Dreams deferred: assimilation, resistance and the exercise of freedom

UNIT 2: POETICS OF DISSENT AND REVOLUTION

2.1. Of birds and other (h)owls
2.1.1. Frank O’Hara and the New York School of Poets
2.1.2. Allen Ginsberg and the Beat Generation

2.2. And the caged birds sing
2.2.1. Adrienne Rich’s politics of location: writing as “re-vision” and resistance
2.2.2. Maya Angelou’s “blue aesthetics”: songs of protest and survival

UNIT 3: NARRATIVES OF BELONGING, NON-BELONGING, AND CONFLICT

3.1. “Unspeakable things unspoken”: Toni Morrison’s Beloved (1987)
3.2. “Where is your country?”: Cormac McCarthy’s All the Pretty Horses (1992)

Mandatory literature

Toni Morrison; Beloved. ISBN: 0-452-26136-8
Cormac McCarthy; All the Pretty Horses, Picador, 2009. ISBN: ‎ 9780330510936
Judith Butler; Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak; Who Sings the Nation-state? Language, Politics, Belonging, Seagull, 2007. ISBN: 1905422571

Complementary Bibliography

Maya Angelou; The Complete Poetry, Random House, 2015. ISBN: 978-0-8129-9787-3
Allen Ginsberg; Howl and other poems. ISBN: 0-87286-017-5
Frank O'Hara; The Collected Poems of Frank O'Hara, University of California Press, 1995. ISBN: 0520201663
Adrienne Rich; The Fact of a Doorframe: Selected Poems 1950-2001, W.W. Norton, 2002. ISBN: 978-0-393-32395-5
Justine Tally; The^Cambridge companion to Toni Morrison. ISBN: 9780521861113
Frye Steven 340; The^Cambridge companion to Cormac McCarthy. ISBN: 978-1-107-64480-9
Mary Jane Lupton; Maya Angelou: A Critical Companion, Greenwood Press, 1998. ISBN: 9780313303258
Jeannette Ryley; Understanding Adrienne Rich, University of South California, 2016. ISBN: 9781611176995
Steven Belleto; The Cambridge Companion to the Beats, Cambridge University Press, 2017. ISBN: 978-1-107-18445-9
Robert Hampson; Will Montgomery; Frank O'Hara Now: New Essays on the New York Poet, Liverpool University Press, 2017
Homi K. Bhabha; Nation and narration. ISBN: 0-415-01483-2
Harold Bloom; The^western canon. ISBN: 0-15-195747-9

Comments from the literature

N.N.:

N.B.: In addition to the works mentioned in the Mandatory Literature (which students are expected to bring to class), a selection of poems and essays will be made available in class. 

Additional references will also be provided in the course of the semester.

Teaching methods and learning activities

Fifteen weekly sessions on a seminar basis

keywords

Humanities > Literature > Literary criticism
Humanities > Literature > American literature

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation without final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Participação presencial	50,00
Trabalho escrito	50,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	35,00
Frequência das aulas	45,00
Trabalho de investigação	163,00
Total:	243,00

Eligibility for exams

a) active participation in seminar sessions;
b) an oral presentation on a specific topic, under the guidance and with the agreement of the course lecturer;
c) a paper to be presented and discussed at the end of the semester.


Students must attend 75% of all seminar sessions

Calculation formula of final grade

Students will obtain a 'pass' or a 'fail' based on the following evaluation components: a) active participation in seminars and oral presentation discussed during the semester -50%; b) written essay to be discussed at the end of the semester - 50%

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Not applicable

Classification improvement

Not applicable