American Literature 4101-3PLAMW
I. Colonial Times literature (1620--1783/1800.)
a) Puritan literature (17th and 18th c.)
b) The Enlightenment
II. 19th century
a) Romanticism
b) Transcendentalism (1840-1860)
c) Gothic literature
d) realism i naturalism
III.20th century literature
a) Modernism (1900s-1946):
b) the Jazz Age:
c) post-war literaturę and American drama:
d) literaturę for kids
The lecture offers a chronological overview of the most significant literary epochs and trends, starting with Native American and Colonial literature, through Romanticism and Transcendentalism, to Realism and Naturalism in the first Modernism, American drama, and kids’ literature. It also attempts to make comparisons between American and Polish literary phenomena, which aims to develop students’ interculural comptences.
Learning outcomes
KNOWLEDGE
K_W01 the student has a basic knowledge of American literature and its application to EL teaching H1P_W01
K_W02 the student has a comprehensive area of knowledge, covering selected areas of American literature, which have practical application in foreign language teaching H1P_W02
K_W03 the student has an understanding of the basic academic literary terms appropriate for teaching foreign languages H1P_W03
SKILLS
K_U15 the student is able to use basic theories to analyse the motives and patterns of human behaviour in order to diagnose a situation and deliver practical strategies for different teaching contexts H1A_U04 H1A_U06 S1A_U03 S1A_U08
K_U21 the student is able to use basic theories to analyse, interpret and design strategies and educational activities; and is able to deliver solutions to specific problems as well as forecast the psychological and pedagogical consequences of the decision-making process S1A_U04
SOCIAL COMPETENCES
K_K01 the student understands the importance of lifelong learning H1P_K01
K_K05 the student is aware of their role in the promotion and preservation of the cultural heritage of the region, country and Europe, and the USA H1P_K05
Assessment criteria
The lecture introduces students to American literary issues which are later on developed during classes. Attendance matters.
Bibliography
Baym, N., et al. (eds.), The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Vols. I and II. Norton, New York, 1994.
Beaty, J. & Hunter, J.P., New Worlds of Literature, Norton & Company, W. W., New York, 1994.
Bradbury, M. & Ruland, R., From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of American Literature, Viking, New York, 1991.
Elliott, E., American Colonial Writers 1606-1734, Gale Research Co., Detroit, Mich., 1984.
Elliott, E., American Colonial Writers 1735-1781, Gale Research Co., Detroit, Mich., 1984.
Greenberg, M.H. (ed.), Great Stories of the American West II, Berkeley Books, New York, 1997.
Hart, J.D. (ed.), The Oxford Companion to American Literature, OUP, Oxford, 1995.
High, P.B., An Outline of American Literature, Longman, London, 1989.
Jones, S.W. (ed.), Growing up in the South: An Anthology of Modern Southern Literature, Mentor, New York, 1991.
Kenner, H., The Pound Era, University of California Press, Berkeley & Los Angeles, 1974.
Kostalanetz, R. (ed.), American Writing Today, 2 vols., Forum Series, United States International Communication Agency, Washington DC, 1982.
Lauter, P. (ed.), The Heath Anthology of American Literature, 2 vols., 3rd ed., Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston & New York, 1998.
Lewicki, Z. (ed), A Handbook of American Literature for Students of English, US Embassy Cultural Section, Warsaw, 1990.
Litz, A. W. (ed.), Major American Short Stories, OUP, New York & Oxford, 1994.
Mazur, Z. (ed.), The College Anthology of American Literature. Universitas, Kraków, 1998.
McQuade, D. (ed.), The Harper Single Volume of American Literature, 3rd ed., Longman, New York, 1999.
Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia of Literature. 1995 ed.
Perkins, D., A History of Modern Poetry, 2 vols., the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass., & London, 1976.
Rubin, L.D., The Faraway Country: Writers of the Modern South, University of Washington Press, Seattle, 1963.
Richler M, (ed.), The Best of Modern Humor, Knopf, A.A., New York, 1983.
Salska, A. (ed.), Historia literatury amerykańskiej XX wieku. Vols. 1 and 2. Universitas, Kraków, 2003.
Velie, A. (ed.), American Indian Literature: An Anthology, Norman, University of Oklahoma Press, 1979.
Wagner-Martin, L. & Davidson, C.M. (eds.), The Oxford Book of Women's Writing in the United States, OUP, Oxford & New York, 1995.
Wiget, A. (ed.), Critical Essays on Native American Literature, Hall, G.K. Boston, Mass., 1985.
Williford, L. & Martone, M. (eds.), The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction: Fifty North American Stories Since 1970, Scribner Paperback Fiction, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1999.
Wilmeth, D.B. (ed.), The Cambridge History of American Theatre, CUP, New York, 1998.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: