Contemporary American Fiction (U02713)

? Credit Points : 20 ? SCQF Level : 10 ? Acronym : LLC-4-EL0104

This course is an interrogation of what it means to be American in a contemporary multicultural society, through the close critical examination of nine novels of the last 20 years; these novels are selected to illustrate the diversity of American cultures in the late twentieth century, and to ask how their aesthetic qualities are related to the social and political challenges that they dramatise.

Entry Requirements

? This course is not available to visting students.

? Pre-requisites : Passes in English or Scottish Literature 1 and English or Scottish or American Literature 2, with a mark of 50 or above at the first attempt int he second year course. Passes in third year courses in the subject area amounting to at least 40 credits.

? Special Arrangements for Entry : Numbers are limited and students taking degrees not involving English or Scottish literature need the written approval of the head of English Literature.

? Costs : Essential course texts.

Subject Areas

Home subject area

English Literature, (School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, Schedule G)

Delivery Information

? Normal year taken : 4th year

? Delivery Period : Semester 2 (Blocks 3-4)

? Contact Teaching Time : 2 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

? Other Required Attendance : 1 hour(s) per week for 10 weeks

All of the following classes

Type	Day	Start	End	Area
Lecture	Thursday	09:00	10:50	Central

Summary of Intended Learning Outcomes

Students who complete this course successfully will develop a knowledge and understanding of a range and variety of contemporary American novelists in terms of region, class, gender and ethnicity, and an appreciation of how these writers dramatise the problems and issues of what it means to be American in the context of theories of the contemporary such as identity politics and postmodernity. Students will acquire a detailed knowledge of the aesthetic qualities of the novels, in the context of contemporary debates about American cultural politics.