Twentieth-Century American Literature

Welcome to this course in twentieth-century American literature. There are three units, and your job will be to complete each unit in advance of the three tuition sessions we will have together during the semester.

The structure will be two-fold: first, you will have to read the relevant chapters of Lectures on American Literature, 3rd ed., and then read the excerpts from the relevant literature (in files below). This will form the basis for your online peer discussion forums, which are a required part of the course.

The excerpts are prefaced by dates relating to the given writer's life and career and then arranged under different headings. Your job will be to try to connect these thematic headings with the excerpts that follow. In each case, you must ask yourself and your peers (in the discussion forums) do you understand the connection. What are the possible explanations? Can I connect the excerpts with what I read in the course book?

In many cases, you may not see the connection, but remember that frustration is an integral part of learning. If everything's easy, one falls asleep and learns nothing. The teaching sessions will give you the chance to air these frustrations and questions, as well as present your ideas. We learn by overcoming our frustration, and the teacher's job is to help you achieve this.