ENGL-202 American Literature II
This course studies literature written in the United States of America from the mid-nineteenth century to recent times. Works are chosen to represent diverse ethnic, racial, and social groups in historical, political, and economic contexts for what they reflect and reveal about the evolving American experience and character. Representative works include Realist and Naturalist literature, immigrant and Native American experience, poetry, fiction, and nonfiction from WWI and WWII eras, and feminist expression, among others. Students will search for 'American Identity' through literature and cultural studies. Students will explore The Harlem Renaissance, The Jazz Age, The Sixties, and other important eras in American life. Students will also read essays on contemporary culture, including works about popular culture. This course is writing intensive.
Hours Weekly
3 hours weekly
Course Objectives
- 1. Recognize literary terms, concepts, critical strategies and stylistic characters in the texts studied.
- 2. Demonstrate critical and independent thinking in the interpretation of texts.
- 3. Write analytically about literary works, using appropriate research and documentation.
- 4. Demonstrate an understanding of ways the literature studied reflects its intellectual, social, historical, and
cultural contexts. - 5. Evaluate the power of literature to address personal values and goals and to challenge human endeavors.
- 6. Describe the major characteristics of literary realism and naturalism.
- 7. Synthesize the historical, political, social, and scientific influences on American Literature in the 19th and
20th centuries.
- 8. Evaluate the individual works of major American poets and fiction writers of the late 19th and 20th
centuries.
Course Objectives
- 1. Recognize literary terms, concepts, critical strategies and stylistic characters in the texts studied.
- 2. Demonstrate critical and independent thinking in the interpretation of texts.
- 3. Write analytically about literary works, using appropriate research and documentation.
- 4. Demonstrate an understanding of ways the literature studied reflects its intellectual, social, historical, and
cultural contexts. - 5. Evaluate the power of literature to address personal values and goals and to challenge human endeavors.
- 6. Describe the major characteristics of literary realism and naturalism.
- 7. Synthesize the historical, political, social, and scientific influences on American Literature in the 19th and
20th centuries.
- 8. Evaluate the individual works of major American poets and fiction writers of the late 19th and 20th
centuries.