The American Essay since World War II 4219-SC079-OG

According to Robert Atwan, founder of the Best American Essays series, “the best essays are deeply personal (that doesn’t necessarily mean autobiographical) and deeply engaged with issues and ideas. And the best essays show that the name of the genre is also a verb, so they demonstrate a mind in process--reflecting, trying-out, essaying.” Readings for this class include classics that have enjoyed enormous cultural resonance, famous essays exploring key issues of their era, as well as deeply personal essays that achieved fame because they touched a nerve. Authors include famous writers such as James Baldwin, Susan Sontag, Joan Didion, and David Foster Wallace, as well as authors known mainly among essay readers such (Jo Ann Beard, Rebecca Solnit or David Sedaris). The range of themes is vast: from racial and gender identity (and injustice), immigrant experience, counterculture, popular culture and art, to human relationship with nature, moral dilemmas and political visions, to intimate experiences such as love, loss, pain, betrayal, confusion, violence, vulnerability, fear, and mortality.

Type of course

elective courses
general courses

Course coordinators

Agnieszka Graff-Osser

Learning outcomes

KNOWLEDGE:
- knows canonical essays written in the US after WWII and appreciates the significance of the essay genre;
- understands the historical and cultural context of these works;
- is familiar with key features of the essays as a genre and can differentiate it from other simillar genres.

SKILLS
- can examine essays with respect to style and structure;
- can recognize the key argument of an essay, its meaning and aim, and locate them in historical and cultural context;
- is able to formulate and present an in-depth analysis of an essay both in written and oral form.

COMPETENCES:
- is able to cooperate in a group;
- is open to conflicting readings of specific texts and differing visions of culture and society;
- is able to formulate and defend his/her opinion coherently and with respect of other views

Assessment criteria

Active participation in class discussion, including at least one brief group presentation – 30%

Written work: 2 brief response papers (2 pages each) to essays on the syllabus.
One of these will be developed into a longer (5-8 page) theme-focused paper bringing together at least two essays – 40%

Final test - 30%

Bibliography

James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son (1955)
Susan Sontag, Notes on Camp (1966)
M. Scott Momaday, The Way To Rainy Mountain (1967)
Maya Angelou, I Know why the Caged Bird Sings (1970)
Maxine Hong Kingston, No Name Woman (1975)
Joan Didion The White Album (1979)
Adrienne Rich, Split at the Root (1982)
Wendell Berry, Getting along with Nature (1987)
Annie Dillard, Total Eclipse (1982)
Jo Ann Beard, The Fourth State of Matter (1996)
Barbara Ehrenreich, Welcome to Cancerland (2001)
David Foster Wallace, This is Water (2005)
Cheryl Strayed, The Love of My Life (2002)
Emily Barnard, Teaching the N-Word (2005)
Rebecca Solnit, Men Explain Things to Me (2014)
Jonathan Franzen, What if We Stopped Pretending (2019)

Additional information

Information on level of this course, year of study and semester when the course unit is delivered, types and amount of class hours - can be found in course structure diagrams of apropriate study programmes. This course is related to the following study programmes:

Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system:

Description of 4219-SC079-OG in USOSweb