ENGL188 PO - American Literature After 1945

When Offered: Each semester
Instructor(s): Staff
Credit: 1

The decades following World War II are some of the most vital and controversial in American history, and in the history of American literature. In this course, we will read some of the major literary works of this period with reference to various social and historical contexts. How did American authors process the trauma of war in Europe and Vietnam, on the one hand, and respond to the United States’ increasing political and economic centrality in a global context, on the other? How did the Cold War and the specter of Communism, and domestic social movements such as the civil rights movement, the New Left, and feminism affect literary history (and vice versa)? How did the formal techniques of modernism give way to postmodernism, and what role did the growth of universities and the rise of creative writing programs play in this process? Readings will encompass fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Authors may include Richard Wright, John Okada, James Baldwin, Elizabeth Bishop, Gwendolyn Brooks, Allen Ginsberg, Thomas Pynchon, Toni Morrison, Tomás Rivera, Marilynne Robinson, Karen Tei Yamashita, Layli Long Soldier, and Karla Cornejo Villavicencio.

Satisfies the following General Education Requirement(s), subject to conditions explained in the Degree Requirements section of this Catalog:
Area 1