ENG 232-01 - Traditions of Ethnic American Literature (Fall)

4 credits (Fall)

This survey course examines how a variety of American writers negotiate the contradictions, ambiguities and anxieties embedded in questions of American national identity at the intersection of race and citizenship. We will read fiction, poetry, plays, and essays by 20th-century and contemporary American authors who identify with African American, Asian American, Native American, Jewish, Latino and Chicano heritages, amongst others. Reading texts within and against their specific cultural and historical contexts, we will explore how these writers use literary form and language as a way to articulate alternative histories of the nation, national identity, and belonging. Readings will include major works by James Baldwin, Maxine Hong Kingston, Philip Roth, Louise Erdrich, Amiri Baraka, Yusef Komunyakaa, Li-Young Lee, Anna Deveare Smith, David Henry Hwang, Jhumpa Lahiri, and Junot Diaz.

Prerequisite: ENG 120 or ENG 121 for majors; for non-majors, ENG 120 or ENG 121 or any course in the study of literature in another language.
Instructor: Phan