Modern and Contemporary North American Literature

Code:

LLC124

Acronym:

LNAC

Keywords
Classification	Keyword
OFICIAL	American Literature

Instance: 2021/2022 - 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	67	LLC - Monodisciplinary Study Plan	1	-	6	52	162
			2
			3
		LLC - Bidisciplinar Study Plan (Portuguese Studies)	3	-	6	52	162
		LLC - Bidisciplinar Study Plan (Two Foreign Languages)	3	-	6	52	162

Teaching language

Suitable for English-speaking students

Objectives

This programme takes the Beat Generation as a starting point to the analysis of the profound changes in sensibility brought by World War II. Drawing on a variety of critical, theoretical, historical, and cultural sources, the course aims the contextualisation and study of the most distinguished moments in American poetry and narrative fiction, from the impact of World War II to postmodernist and multicultural writing. The programme structure will lead to a critical understanding of the main tendencies in American literature of the first decades of the 21st century. Besides a deep focus on the selected literary works, it will also attempt to foster a dialogue between literature and other arts, namely cinema and the visual arts.

Learning outcomes and competences

At the end of the course, students shoud be able to:

a) Gain a deep knowledge of the main trends in post-World War II American writing;

b) Develop the ability to read some of the contemporary American fiction and poetry in relation to its historical and cultural contexts;

c) Deepen the knowledge of the various manifestations of postmodernist writing and of multiculturalism;

d) Discuss the relationship between literature and other arts.

 

Working method

Presencial

Program

The programme includes works Adrienne Rich, Toni Morrison, and Cormac McCarthy and it will focus on relevant themes and trends of contemporary American literature, such as anxiety and identity crisis in the 1960’s and 1970’s; the affluent society and its paradoxes; conformism and counterculture; the travel narrative; African-American fiction and women’s writing; postmodernity and postmodernism; the hypermediatized American society; patterns of quest in the American novel of the 21st century.

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 short stories will be made available in class. 

Mandatory literature

Adrienne Rich; The Fact of a Doorframe: Selected Poems 1950-2011, W.W. Norton, 2002. ISBN: 978-0-393-32395-5
Cormac McCarthy; The Road, Picador, 2008[2006]

Complementary Bibliography

Amiri Baraka (LeRoi Jones) and Amina Baraka.; Confirmation: an anthology of AfricanAmerican women, Quill, 1983. ISBN: 0688015824
Frye, Steven 340; The^Cambridge companion to Cormac McCarthy. ISBN: 978-1-107-64480-9
Justine Tally; The^Cambridge companion to Toni Morrison. ISBN: 9780521861113
Richard Gray; A^history of american literature. ISBN: 0-631-22134-4
Adrienne Rich; Arts of the Possible: Essays and Conversations, W.W. Norton, 2001. ISBN: 0-393-32312-9

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), and tutorials. Student participation is fundamental.

keywords

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	104,00
Frequência das aulas	58,00
Total:	162,00

Eligibility for exams

Students must attend 75% of all classes.

Calculation formula of final grade

A written exam - 100%

Examinations or Special Assignments

Not applicable

Special assessment (TE, DA, ...)

Not applicable

Classification improvement

Not applicable