Undergraduate Course: The American Novel, 1920-1960 (ENLI10099)
Course Outline
| School | School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 10 (Year 4 Undergraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | This course offers a sample of the enormous range and variety of American novels published in the first half of this century. It focuses particularly on the stylistic experimentation of individual writers and examines literary innovation in the context of the social history of the period |
| Course description |
This course offers a sample of the enormous range and variety of American novels published in the first half of this century. It focuses particularly on the stylistic experimentation of individual writers and examines literary innovation in the context of the social history of the period. The course will therefore read these novels against some of the most important events and developments of the period, including the 1920s Harlem Renaissance and Jazz Age, and the Great Depression at the end of that decade; racial discrimination and the Civil Rights Movement; adolescent and literary rebellion after World War Two; and sexual commodification and 'containment' during the Cold War. Below is an indicative list of the primary material likely to be covered:
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Nella Larsen, Passing
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
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Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2024/25, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 96 |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 20,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
176 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
2000 word coursework essay (30%) submitted mid-semester;
plus 3000 word final essay submitted during exam period (70%).
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| Feedback |
Not entered |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Students will be able to demonstrate their understanding of critical issues in relation to the American novel as a crucial genre in the production of modern literature.
- Students will understand the principal critical terms that are used in relation to the American novel and interrogate their utility.
- Students will be able to apply a range of secondary criticism to the primary texts on the course, and evaluate them in relation to their own readings.
- Students will perform textual analyses which consider a text's engagement with a novel's content and aesthetics in light of its historical and cultural contexts.
- Students will, in addition, further improve their abilities in areas fundamental to the study of English literature at Honours level: essay writing, independent reading, critical thinking, class discussion, oral presentation of information, and the ability to learn autonomously in small groups.
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Reading List
F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby
Nella Larsen, Passing
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath
Zora Neale Hurston, Their Eyes Were Watching God
Carson McCullers, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
J. D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita
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Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Andrew Taylor
Tel: (1031 6)50 4584
Email: Andrew.Taylor@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mrs Lina Gordyshevskaya
Tel:
Email: pgordysh@ed.ac.uk |
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