ANG-3140 Special Topics in American Literature

Département des littératures
Faculté des lettres et des sciences humaines
Professeur : Jean-Philippe Marcoux
Session : Automne 2015
ANG-3140 Special Topics in American Literature
Course Description
This course will study the crucial pre- and post- World War I periods in American Literature. Known
as American Modernism (1890-1940), this period is marked by intense questioning of the national
identity in the wake of postindustrial capitalism and by the trauma of the postwar experience. We will
study questions of race, class, urbanity, and gender as writers react to their environment and
predicaments. Socialist and nativist theories will used, amongst others, in order to read various texts.
Also, we will study major writers of “groups” and movements such as High Modernism, Imagism, the
Harlem Renaissance, and the Lost Generation. Likewise, we will engage with moments like the Jazz
Age and the Depression as they inform the literature of the era. The course will provide a thorough
map of the Modernist ethos that will inevitably lead to another world war, and another source of
national trauma.
Pedagogical Approach
Lectures followed by class discussions, with emphasis on the latter. Students are required to have read
the assigned material carefully before each class. Essays and articles will be made available for further
reading at the Reserve of the library. Students are strongly encouraged to read these in order to
enhance their knowledge of the works’ ramifications. Familiarity with the material will enable students
to complete work and enjoy the class as a whole more fully.
Evaluation
Participation – 10% (weekly, active, and knowledgeable participation required)
Short Essay (4-6 pages) -25%
Long Essay (8-10 pages) -40%
Annotated bibliography -10%
Reader responses -15%
Authors studied (preliminary, subject to change)
W.E.B. DuBois, prose
Upton Sinclair, The Jungle
T.S. Eliot, poetry and prose
Ezra Pound, poetry
Hilda Doolitle, poetry
Mina Loy, poetry
Langston Hughes, poetry
Alain Locke, prose
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises
William Faulkner, short stories
Eugene O’Neill, plays
William Carlos Williams, poetry and prose
John Steinback, The Grapes of Wrath
 Plagiat / voir Règlement des études de l’Université Laval http://www.lit.ulaval.ca/index.php?id=493
 L’usage de la nouvelle orthographe est permis à condition que l’étudiant l’ait dûment signalé dans son travail, sans quoi
les graphies jusque-là considérées comme incorrectes seront pénalisées.
er
Échelle de conversion de notes (1 cycle)
Excellent :
Très bon :
Bon :
A+ = 94-100
B+ = 82-84
C+ = 72-74
A = 89-93
B = 78-81
C = 68-71
e
A– = 85-88
B– = 75-77
C– = 65-67
Passable :
Insuffisant :
D+ = 61-64
E = 0-54
D = 55-60
Bon :
Insuffisant :
C+ = 72-74
E = 0-67
C = 68-71
e
Échelle de conversion de notes (2 et 3 cycles)
Excellent :
Très bon :
A+ = 94-100
B+ = 82-84
A = 89-93
B = 78-81
A– = 85-88
B– = 75-77
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