| Course title | Contemporary American Literature |
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| Course code | KAA/AML4 |
| Organizational form of instruction | Seminary |
| Level of course | Master |
| Year of study | 1 |
| Semester | Winter and summer |
| Number of ECTS credits | 4 |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Status of course | Compulsory-optional |
| Form of instruction | Face-to-face |
| Work placements | This is not an internship |
| Recommended optional programme components | None |
| Course availability | The course is available to visiting students |
| Lecturer(s) |
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| Course content |
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Course syllabus (and at the same time exam questions): 1. Cultural Pluralism and Multiculturalism The Right to Be Different (Kallen summary) Josef Jařab, "Fusion or Fragmentation" (unpublished essay) 2. Asian American Literature Frank Chin, Maxine Hong Kingston, Amy Tan, Jhumpa Lahiri, Bharati Mukherjee, Yiyun Li Reading: Jhumpa Lahiri, "The Interpreter of Maladies", in The Interpreter of Maladies Bharati Mukherjee: "The Management of Grief" (in The Middleman and Other Stories) 3. African American Literature Today - Female Writers Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Gloria Naylor, Terry McMillan Reading: Alice Walker: "Everyday Use" 4. Contemporary Jewish American Literature Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, E.L. Doctorow, Nathan Englander, Grace Paley, Art Spiegelman Reading: Cynthia Ozick: The Shawl 5. African American Literature Today - Male Writers James Alan McPherson, Ernest Gaines, Percival Everett, Randall Kenan, Edward P. Jones, Nathan Harris Reading: Nathan Harris: The Sweetness of Water 6. Chicano Literature and Native American Writers Ana Castillo, Sandra Cisneros; Louise Erdrich, Leslie Marmon Silko, James Welch, Sherman Alexie Reading: Louise Erdrich, "Fleur" Sandra Cisneros: "Woman Hollering Creek" (in Woman Hollering Creek and Other Stories) 7. Ending Postmodernism and After Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, Richard Powers Reading: Dave Eggers: The Circle 8. American Short Story: Recent Developments Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, Tim O'Brien, Ron Rash Reading: Raymond Carver, "Cathedral", in Cathedral. Further Reading: Jařab, Josef. "Americká povídka posledního desetiletí", Světová literatura 34, no. 1 (1989): 2-8. 9. Literature of The New Lost Generation David Leavitt, Jay McInerney, Bret Easton Ellis Reading: David Leavitt, "The New Lost Generation", "Family Dancing" Further Readings: Jařab, Josef. "The Stories of the New Lost Generation" 10. Regions in American Literature Eudora Welty, Walker Percy, Ken Kesey, Denis Johnson, Bobbie Ann Mason Reading: Ron Rash: "The Woman Who Believed in Jaguars" 11. Contemporary American Drama Edward Albee, Arthur Kopit, August Wilson, Beth Henley, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, Tony Kushner Reading: Sam Shepard, Buried Child 12. Poetry in Present-day America Post-beat poets, C. K. Williams, Nikki Giovanni, Rita Dove, Yusef Komunyakaa, Billy Collins, Robert Hass, Robert Pinsky, Mary Oliver, Natasha Tretheway Reading: Lawrence Ferlinghetti: "The World Is a Beautiful Place", Yusef Komunyakaa: "Facing It", Natasha Tretheway: Native Guard For each topic at the (state) exam, you should read at least 1 novel/drama, or 3 short stories/essays, or 10 poems.
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| Learning activities and teaching methods |
Lecture, Work with Text (with Book, Textbook)
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| Learning outcomes |
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The focus of the course is American literature since the 1980s; it covers all genres and major tendencies in fiction, poetry and drama. There is an emphasis on the representation of various regions and ethnic groups.
Students will cultivate their skills to apply various historical as well as contemporary methods of literary analysis to the study of specific texts. |
| Prerequisites |
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No special demands apart from a knowledge of basic literary terms and the ability to analyze a work of literature.
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| Assessment methods and criteria |
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Essay, Analysis of Creative works (Music, Pictorial,Literary)
- Active participation in the seminar is required, and up to two absences are tolerated. - At the end of the semester, students write a comparative essay (4 pages) with proper documentation (endnotes or footnotes) and Bibliography (Works Cited) section following the MLA or Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition. Comparison of literary works by the same or another author of the same genre from the course program using secondary literature (literary theory and literary history to place them in a cultural-historical context - at least two academic sources). To be submitted in print. The essay can be submitted only twice; if failed, students have to repeat the course. - 4 short in-class tests testing student's knowledge of the assigned reading |
| Recommended literature |
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| Study plans that include the course |
| Faculty | Study plan (Version) | Category of Branch/Specialization | Recommended semester | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2020) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English for Translators and Interpreters (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English for Translators and Interpreters (2017) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English for Translators and Interpreters (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |