20th-Century North American Literature

Code:

LLC125

Acronym:

LNA_XX

Instance: 2014/2015 - 1S

Active?	Yes
Responsible unit:	Department of Anglo-American Studies
Course/CS Responsible:	Bachelor in Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Cycles of Study/Courses

Acronym	No. of Students	Study Plan	Curricular Years	Credits UCN	Credits ECTS	Contact hours	Total Time
LLC	40	Plano Oficial do ano letivo 2013_2014	2	-	6	52	162
LLC	40	Plano Oficial do ano letivo 2013_2014	3	-	6	52	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

The aim of this course is to enable students to gain a detailed knowledge of relevant works of 20th Century American Literature, mainly in the area of narrative fiction. Through a detailed analysis of the contribution of the American novel to innovation and creativity in the arts and letters, students will be confronted with manifestations of Anglo-American modernism, with the legacy of the Second World War, with the structural changes in the American literary canon, as well as with the connections between the modernist novel and Afro-American cultural tradition.

Learning outcomes and competences

At the end of the course, students are supposed to be able to contextualize some of the literary changes that took place throughout the 20th century. Students should also be able to gain knowledge of new and complex modes of writing, life styles, and aesthetic experimentalism, and to establish comparisons between European and American modernism.

Students are supposed to develop an ability to analyse the reflections of Word War II and of the 1950s on the literature of that period: a culture of dissensus, the conflict "I" vs. society, quest fiction, existentialism, the canonization of Afro-American writing.

Working method

Presencial

Program

The first half of the twentieth century witnessed the outbreak of two World Wars and their long-term consequences, including profound transformations in technological development, scientific knowledge and philosophical thought, as well as significant changes in terms of ideas, mentalities, and artistic and literary forms of expression.

Throughout the semester, drawing on a variety of theoretical, historical and cultural sources, this course will focus on the contextualized study of significant works of American narrative fiction and their connections with dominant themes within the American literary tradition, and on the way they are (re-)presented in the novels included in the primary sources.

Mandatory literature

Ernest Hemingway; A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1929), London: Arrow Books, 1994
William Faulkner; AS I LAY DYING (1930), New York: Vintage, 1996
J. D. Salinger; THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (1951), New York: Penguin, 1994
Toni Morrison ; THE BLUEST EYE (1970), New York: Penguin Vintage, 2007

Complementary Bibliography

Beidler, Peter G.; A^reader.s companion to J.D. Salinger.s The Catcher in the Rye. ISBN: 978-1-60381-013-5
Bloom, Harold 340; Toni Morrison.s the bluest eye. ISBN: 9780791096154
Cirino, Mark; Ernest Hemingway. ISBN: 978-0299286545
Cirino, Mark; Ernest Hemingway and the geography of memory. ISBN: 9781606351413
Dromm, Keith 340; The^Catcher in the Rye and philosophy. ISBN: 978-0-8126-9800-8
Duvall, John, 1956-; The^identifying fictions of Toni Morrison. ISBN: 9780230623088
Herlihy, Jeffrey; In Paris or Paname. ISBN: 978-90-420-3409-9
Minter, David; Faulkner's Questioning Narratives: Fiction of His Major Phase, 1929-1942, Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 2001
Polk, Noel 340; Faulkner and war. ISBN: 1-57806-559-3
Shields, David; Salinger. ISBN: 978-1-4767-4483-4
Tally, Justine 340; The^Cambridge companion to Toni Morrison. ISBN: 9780521861113
Yamaguchi, Ryuichi; Faulkner.s artistic vision. ISBN: 0-8386-4014-1

Comments from the literature

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

Teaching methods and learning activities

Lectures,
seminars (critical discussion of texts), tutorials. Active student participation is fundamental.

keywords

Humanities > Literature > American literature

Evaluation Type

Distributed evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	70,00
Trabalho escrito	30,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	73,00
Frequência das aulas	58,00
Trabalho de investigação	31,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Students are supposed to attend 75 % of all classes .

Calculation formula of final grade

Assessment and weighting:

The model of assessment for this course consists of two components:

a) a paper (2.500-4.000 words) or an oral presentation (maximum 20 minutes) on a specific topic, under the guidance and with the agreement of the course lecturer - 30%.

This component is mandatory for all students. To be delivered by the last week of classes.

b) A written examination - 70%

Students whose essays come to be graded below 8 (i.e., 0-7) will have to submit a new essay or a revised version of the same. To be delivered before the final exam.
Students whose exams come to be graded below 8 (i.e., 0-7) will have to sit the exam again.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable.

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Not applicable.

Classification improvement

According to FLUP regulations.

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