History of American Literature II.
American Literature in the 20th Century
Course description 2015
Teacher: PaedDr. Puskás Andrea, PhD.
e-mail: [email protected]
[email protected]
Office: 209
Form: 1 lecture + 2 seminars
Tentative Syllabus:
21 Sept – Seminar: Introduction to the course, discussion of course syllabus. General Introduction to
Modernism
23 Sept – Lecture: American Modernism. Modernist Poetry. Traditionalism, Imagism, Objectivism
28 Sept – Seminar: Henry James. The Beast in the Jungle. A selection of modernist poetry
30 Sept – Lecture: ‘Making it new’ in Prose. Gertrude Stein. The Lost Generation. Ernest
Hemingway
5 Oct – Seminar: The short stories of Ernest Hemingway: Cat in the Rain. The End of Something.
The Undefeated
7 Oct – Lecture: American drama in the 20th Century. Eugene O’Neill, Norman Mailer. Arthur
Miller. Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire. Edward Albee: Who’s Afraid of Virginia
Woolf?
12 Oct – Seminar: William Faulkner. The Sound and the Fury. The Jazz Age. F. Scott
Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
14 Oct – Lecture: The Beat Generation. Allen Ginsberg. Jack Kerouac: On the Road. Charles
Bukowski. Ken Kesey
19 Oct – Seminar: J. D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye. The short stories of J. D. Salinger:
For Esmé with Love and Squalor
21 Oct - Lecture: The emergence of Postmodernism in American literature. Brian McHale, Susan
Sontag, John Barth. Constructing the Self. Postmodern Consciousness and Identity. Thomas Pynchon.
26 Oct – Seminar: Thomas Pynchon: The Crying of Lot 49
28 Oct – Lecture: The neo-pastoral and the hippie movement in American literature. Richard
Brautigan: In Watermelon Sugar.
2 Nov – Seminar: Test 1
4 Nov – Lecture: Woody Allen: The Kugelmass Episode. The Lunatic’s Tale
9 Nov – Seminar: The employment of black humour in fiction. Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse V.
11 Nov – Lecture: Community and Identity – Immigrant Writing. Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita
16 Nov – Seminar: The short stories of Vladimir Nabokov. Spring in Fialta
18 Nov – Lecture: Defining new black identity: African American fiction and feminist fiction
23 Nov – Seminar: Toni Morrison: Beloved. Alice Walker: Everyday Use
25 Nov – Lecture: American Jewish fiction. Saul Bellow. Bernard Malamud
30 Nov – Seminar: Bernard Malamud: The Prison
2 Dec – Lecture: Feminist fiction in American Literature
7 Dec – Seminar: Alice Munroe: Some Women. Amy Tan: Two Kinds
9 Dec – Lecture: Ray Bradbury: A Sound of Thunder
14 Dec – Seminar: Test 2
16 Dec – Lecture: Concluding thoughts
Assessment based on:
 oral exam – it will be based on the information given at the lectures on 20th century American
literature and your readings; you will receive the text version of the lectures by e-mail, though it is highly
recommended to take notes during the lectures and seminars. The syllabus of the course (the order of
lectures) might change due to holidays or other circumstances, it will be indicated by sending you an email).
 regular class attendance – no more than 2 absences – for these two you do not have to bring any
doctor’s notes, however, if you miss more than 2 classes, each extra absence will mean -5% from the
average of the half-term test and the end-of-term test; attendance of lectures is obligatory, too, similarly
to the seminars, you can miss no more than 2 lectures, each extra absence will mean -5% from the
average of the half-term test and the end-of-term test. And no, the first week does not count.
 a Portfolio – you have to prepare a file with all the materials you are given in class + you have to
write an analysis of each literary work that you are obliged to read, namely:
1. Henry James. The Beast in the Jungle,
2. Ernest Hemingway: The End of Something
3. Ernest Hemingway: The Undefeated
4. Ernest Hemingway: Cat in the Rain
5. F. Scott Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby
6. William Faulkner. The Sound and the Fury
7. Vladimir Nabokov. Spring in Fialta
8. Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire
9. J. D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye
10. J. D. Salinger: For Esme with Love and Squalor
11. Alice Walker: Everyday Use
12. Richard Brautigan: In Watermelon Sugar
13. Thomas Pynchon: The Crying of Lot 49
14. Kurt Vonnegut: Slaughterhouse Five
15. Woody Allen: The Kugelmass Episode
16. Woody Allen: The Lunatic’s Tale
17. Bernard Malamud: The Prison
18. Alice Munroe: Some Women
19: Amy Tan: Two Kinds
20. Ray Bradbury: A Sound of Thunder
Optimally, each author + literary work will go into a different file, so finally your portfolio will have 20
files.
Basic criteria: please do read the text, not just the plot summary! In your written comment on the given
work you are supposed to give a textual analysis, not the description of the plot. Prepare quotes from
the text (at least 5) to support your ideas and interpret them. Make sure that you write down your own
opinion and responses to the text and not just copy someone else’s from the Internet. I can only accept
hand-written texts. You have to bring your Portfolio to the oral exam, without that I cannot give you a
mark. This means that starting to work on your portfolio 1 week before the oral exam will not do you any
good, since it is impossible to read so many books + write an analysis/commentary for each within a
week. You have to work throughout the whole course.
 a 5-minute micro-test at the beginning of each seminar – it will consist of 2 or 3 questions based on
the plot of the literary work that you had to read for the seminar. In the syllabus the concrete literary
works for micro-testing are underlined. You will get points for each micro-test and for being able to go
for the oral exam, you need to get 50% from the overall micro-test points. If you fail to receive 50%, you
will be given an Fx in AIS and you will need to retake the micro-tests in the form of one single test with
several random questions from the compulsory reading list.
 2 tests on theory – a half-term and an end-of-term test, including theory (lectures); your result must
be at least 50% on average (from the two), otherwise you get an Fx in AIS; after this you have 2 exam
dates for retaking the test + if succeeded, take the oral exam; if you have 50% or more, you can go for the
oral exam automatically
 a presentation – each student has to give a presentation on a selected topic; if you fail to turn up on
the day of the presentation without any prior notice, you will be given 2 absences. If you cannot present
your topic due to some reason, you are asked to hand it in in a written form; otherwise you cannot go for
the oral exam. The presentation has to be prepared in Power Point as well. The minimum number of
slides: 10. You mustn’t read your presentation, please talk to the audience.
 active participation in class discussions during the lessons
Recommended literature:
 GRAY, Richard. 2004. A History of American Literature. Blackwell Publishing.
 BEACH, Christopher. 2003. The Cambridge Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Poetry.
CUP.
 LEWIS, Pericles. 2007. The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism. CUP.
 NICOL, Bran. 2009. The Cambridge Introduction to Postmodern Fiction. CUP.
 KALAIDJIAN, Walter, ed. 2005. The Cambridge Companion to American Modernism. CUP.
 BRADBURY, Malcolm. 1992. The Modern American Novel. OUP.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions. Enjoy the course and most of all enjoy reading!