This course is an interrogation of some of the main themes and trends in American literature after WWII, an excitingly fertile and thought-provoking period in the literary and cultural history of the United States.  As we will see, during this period the meaning of each of the key terms in the title of our course -"American," "Literature," and "Culture" - was reconfigured in ways unforeseen and unimaginable in earlier periods.  Some of the themes we will be exploring in drama, fiction, poetry, graphic literature, and hypertext include but are not limited to: crises and restorations of faith in the "American dream," the lasting effects of war, the rise of the Civil Rights and Feminist movements, the expansion of the U.S. literary canon, the shift from a melting pot to a multicultural model of U.S. diversity, the blurring of lines between popular and high culture, the advent and development of postmodernism, the effects of globalization, and America after 9/11.

 

For this course, I:

• researched pedagogy and praxis;
• composed curriculum, syllabus, and assignments;
• designed class Blackboard site and activities;
• instructed the course

 

Syllabus

Sample Writing Assignment