ENG 308 - American Literature and Identity (3)

This course explores the relationship between American literature and identity from the Colonial Era to the present day. Students will examine how major literary trends shaped, and were shaped by, the formation of diverse identities. From ideals of rugged independence and upward mobility to the realities of Native American removal, race slavery, and the disenfranchisement of women, American literature has emerged from a complex history. By the end of the course, students will be able to identify major trends in American literature from Transcendentalism and Naturalism to Modernism and Postmodernism. Moreover, students will be able to describe the role of major historical developments in the shaping of various identities expressed in American Literature. Finally, students will create an argument about the relationship between American identity and literature and present it in a major research paper.