Academic Year/course:
2023/24
416 - Degree in English
27838 - American Literature IV
Syllabus Information
Academic year:
2023/24
Subject:
27838 - American Literature IV
Faculty / School:
103 - Facultad de Filosofía y Letras
Degree:
416 - Degree in English
ECTS:
6.0
Year:
4
Semester:
First semester
Subject type:
Compulsory
Module:
---
1. General information
The main objective of this subject is to provide students with specialized knowledge about US literature of the second half of the 20th century. This will be achieved through the study of a significant textual corpus from various theoretical frameworks, taking into account relevant notions such as identity, nation, race, gender, and social class. The course aims to emphasize the relation between each text and the history and culture of the United States and Western society as a whole.
These approaches and objectives are aligned with the following Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations' Agenda 2030 (https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/), particularly those related to eradicating poverty (SDG 1), quality education (SDG 4), gender equality (SDG 5), reducing inequalities (SDG 10), and alliances to reach the goals (SDG 17).
2. Learning results
In order to pass this subject, the student must accomplish the following learning goals:
• Define the different periods that structure North American literature from the mid-20th century onwards.
• Name and chronologically place the main authors, texts, genres, and literary trends of the period.
• Explain the connection of each text and author with their specific historical-literary context and with reference to the current moment.
• Analyze the compulsory texts included in the course syllabus, paying attention to both form and content, correctly applying the techniques of close reading and the studied theoretical frameworks.
• Compare the formal and content aspects of the different texts in the syllabus in order to enhance the student's ability to convey and explain knowledge.
• Generate hypotheses on specific topics related to the contents and works of the program.
• Handle bibliographic sources to obtain additional information on topics related to the program, selecting the most relevant ones among those available and properly indicating the consulted sources.
• Assess the relevance of each of the texts and authors included in the syllabus for the understanding of North American literature and, more broadly, the cultural history of the United States and the current situation of the world.
• Summarize the most relevant characteristics of American literature from the mid- 20th century onwards, also increasing their ability to continuously use and update computer tools and new technologies.
• Use the English language with a higher degree of accuracy, both orally and in writing, applying all the above at a C1 level of the CEFR.
3. Syllabus
1. The 1940s: Literature, society and the echoes of modernism. The effects of the Great Depression: social commitment and experimentation in Steinbeck’s fiction.
2. US drama in the post-war period. Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams. Official ideology, sexual options and the beginning of the Cold War.
3. Neorealism in the war and post-war period. Negotiating identity and the color black: Ralph Ellison. From tradition into existentialism and parody: Saul Bellow.
4. Poetry of dissent: Adrienne Rich and the rights of women; Allen Ginsberg, poetry against the status quo; Amiri Baraka and his radical political art.
5. Postmodern fiction in the USA: Tim O’Brien and the Vietnam War. Gender, race, and class in contemporary fiction: Sandra Cisneros.
4. Academic activities
- Theory sessions
The course will cover historical and cultural contexts, main characteristics of authors, works, and critical and methodological concepts.
- Practice sessions and group seminars
Critical analysis of the compulsory literary texts will be conducted through guided commentary in both large group settings and small discussion groups.
- Supervised activities
Individual and group tutorials will be conducted.
- Autonomous activities
Students are expected to engage in independent activities such as reading the compulsory texts corresponding to each topic, reviewing concepts discussed in class, consulting bibliographic sources, and accessing additional materials on the course's Moodle page.
- Global exam
5. Assessment system
1st CALL
CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT (if no practice teaching group exceeds 25 students):
1) Completion of two partial exams (reading tests and analysis of quotes from compulsory texts), one in the middle of the semester and the other on the last day of class [40% of the final grade].
2) Completion of a written test (essay question relating two or more texts and/or authors from the syllabus) [60% of the final grade].
Requirement: participation and attendance of at least 80% of the classes.
Evaluation criteria: knowledge of the subject matter, effective development of argumentation, ability to analyze texts in depth considering form and content, and appropriate expression in English at a C1.1 level according to the CEFR.
GLOBAL ASSESSMENT
Completion, on the date specified in the academic calendar, of an exam divided into two parts:
1) Short-answer questions on topics, concepts, texts, authors [40% of the final grade].
2) Essay question relating two or more texts and/or authors from the syllabus [60% of the final grade].
For both continuous and global assessment, failing to achieve a minimum of 4.5 out of 10 points in either part will result in a failing grade. The average score of the exams must reach 5.0 points to pass the course.
Evaluation criteria: knowledge of the subject matter, effective development of argumentation, ability to analyze texts in depth considering form and content, and appropriate expression in English at a C1.1 level according to the CEFR.
2nd CALL
GLOBAL ASSESSMENT
Identical to the global assessment of the 1st call.