ENG 338 (W): American Literature Since Mid-20th Century– Dr. Ruth Y. Hsu
Delivery format: In-person
Required Texts:
The Heath Anthology of American Literature, Volume E (selection of prose, poetry)
Spiegelman, Maus I (1986, graphic novel).
Bechdel, Fun Home: A Family Tragicomedy (2007; graphic novel).
Morrison, The Bluest Eye.
Worden, Daniel. The Comics of Joe Sacco: Journalism in a Visual World (Critical Approaches to Comics Artists Series), 2017. (graphic narrative)
Zhao, Nomadland (2020; film).
Goals, Organization, Procedures: This is a very momentous period of literatures of the United States, marked by numerous internationally renowned authors. It is also an adventurous time in terms of the radical reimagining of identity, aesthetics, and cultural, political, and social experience. The main text in this class—The Heath Anthology–contains a wide range of fiction writers, playwrights, poets, and essayists: Lyrical, original, and always worth the time and effort, the writers of the mid-20th century to the present engage readers emotionally and intellectually on some of the profoundest events and transformations in the U. S. of the past 60 to 70 years, affecting the very definition of “America.”
WI focus designations:
UH Manoa General Education office determines the amount of work per class necessary in order for students to gain (WI) Writing Intensive credit. Earned WI credit requires that your grade consists of formal and informal writing (including revisions of papers) and one 5-10-minute class presentation. A WI course requires a MINIMUM of 4000 words, which typically translates into a MINIMUM of 16 pages. Satisfactory completion of all components of each and all Requirements must be completed by stipulated due dates in order for you to obtain a minimum of D or better and WI credit. Among your goals in this class should be the development of independent, analytical, interpretative and research skills.
Student Learning Outcomes include:
- The ability to identify the major literary themes, authors and texts of the period;
- To be able to analyze via literary terms the ways that writers ‘put together’ a story, a poem, and so on.
- The ability to use in class presentations, discussions and writing assignments literary terms and concepts appropriate to a 300-level course;
- To begin to acquire strategies for connecting texts to a broader cultural and historical context.
Requirements include:
- One one-person presentation (5 to 10 minutes) based on assigned readings (from the Heath, The Bluest Eye, the graphic novels and the film;
- One analytical/persuasive/argumentative essay (minimum 8 pages, double-spaced);
- One take-home, essay final.