ENGL 265-01, Introduction to African American Literature, Fall 2008

Abstract

This course will introduce you to the African American literary tradition from its beginnings througlr the present day. Over the course of the semester, you will read selections from the Norton Anthologt of African American Literature and several additional novels, including Nella Larsen's Passlzg, Alice Walker's Meridian, and Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist. We wlll pay particular attention to issues ofidentity, citizenship, belonging, and subjectivity, considering how authors constructed selves and imagined audiences through their stories and the way they told them. This course will also "read" the African American literary hadition in relationship to its social, historical, and cultural contexts, a process that forms the foundation for a methodology ofreading texts by and about the black experience in America. As this is an English course, we will also discuss the practice and process of writing paperc about literature. We will attend to issues of mechanics, style, organization, and argument appropriate to literary studies. By the end of the course, you will have gained an appreciation for African American literature, developed a facility with the basic principles of literary studies, and received valuable oractice in writings about literature.