ENGL 265-02, Introduction to African Americna Literature, Fall 2009

Abstract

This course will introduce you to African American literature through the themes of identity, protest and resistance, the vernacular and word play, and blues and jazz. We will read these texts in relationship to their social, historical, and cultural contexts, a fundamental method for interpreting texts about the black experience in America, to consider how the interaction of these contexts shape the literature produced by African Americans. Over the course of the semester, we will read selections from the Norton Anthology of African American Literature along with several additional works: Nella Larsen's Passing, Shange’s “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf,” and Sister Souljah’s The Coldest Winter Ever. As this is a writing intensive English course, we will also discuss the practice and process of discussing, analyzing, and writing papers about literature. We will attend to the elements of fiction, the skills of close reading and analysis as well as issues of mechanics, style, organization, and argument appropriate to African American literary studies. By the end of the course, the goal is that you will have gained an appreciation for African American literature, developed a facility with the basic principles of African American literary studies, and received valuable practice in thinking critically and writing incisively about literature.