Introduction to North American Culture and Literature

Code:

LLC064

Acronym:

ICLNA

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	North American Studies

Instance: 2017/2018 - 2S

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	83	LLC - Monodisciplinary Study Plan	1	-	6	52	162
			2
			3
		LLC - Bidisciplinar Study Plan (Portuguese Studies)	2	-	6	52	162
		LLC - Bidisciplinar Study Plan (Two Foreign Languages)	2	-	6	52	162

Teaching language

Portuguese

Objectives

This programme has two main aims. On one hand to introduce students to basic knowledge in the areas of the history, the thought and the culture of the United States of America, and, on the other, to attempt to highlight and examine selected literary texts. These texts will be looked at within their ideological, socio-cultural and aesthetics contexts. A the end of the course should have acquiered basic knowledge, cultural and theoretical concepts in the fields of the American culture, history and literature. 

Learning outcomes and competences

Students should acquire basic knowledge, cultural and theoretical concepts in the fields of the American History, Culture and Literature to develop useful skills to a gradual and steady theoretical reflection. Thus, students should develop a variety of competencies to provide them the contact and the assimilation of central concepts and themes which will be useful to other courses within the area of American Studies.

Working method

Presencial

Program

Taking as a starting point the “invention” of America on the one hand and the utopian thought that accompained it, on the other, this programme will examine the appearance and (ideological) affirmation, at various moments in its history, of a new society and respective culture, as well as its relation with the literary production of the United States of America. -The cultural and ideological dimension of America as “invention” and as utopia; -Puritanism in colonial America; -The emergence of an enlightened America and the revolutionary discourse; -Cultural life in 19th Century America; -Nathaniel Hawthorne and the American Renaissance; -The Other Land” and the Civil War; -The new modern, industrial nation-state; -The appearance of Realism and the rupture with previous conventions, associated with a “genteel tradition”; he changes brought about in the first decades of the black community; -American Modernism and The Period between the Two Wars; -The South and the Southern Renaissance;- The visibility of the Afro American community,  

Mandatory literature

Hawthorne, Nathaniel; Young Goodman Brown
Fitzgerald, F. Scott; The Great Gatsby
Twain, Mark; "The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County"
Welty, Eudora; "Where is the voice coming from?"
Sargent, Lyman Tower; "Utopia Americana: Ambivalence Toward Utopianism"
Ruland, Richard et al.; From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of an American Literature. Rout., 1991
Bercovitch, Sacvan.; The Puritan Origins of the American Self. Yale Univ. Press, 1975

Comments from the literature

Bibliography will be advised

Teaching methods and learning activities

Theoretical, Pratical and Tutorial Classes

keywords

Social sciences > Cultural studies > American studies
Social sciences > Cultural studies > American studies
Humanities > Literature > American literature
Humanities > Literature > American literature

Evaluation Type

Evaluation with final exam

Assessment Components

Designation	Weight (%)
Exame	100,00
Total:	100,00

Amount of time allocated to each course unit

Designation	Time (hours)
Estudo autónomo	72,00
Frequência das aulas	54,00
Trabalho de investigação	36,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Theorical, Pratical and Tutorial Classes

Calculation formula of final grade

Attending 75% of classes, unless established otherwise by law.

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Not applicable

Classification improvement

Not applicable