Intended for students who have passed an introduction to literature, this coursebook offers a survey of twentieth-century American literature. Geared to the actual needs of students in a modular literature course, the book provides practical, "hands-on", material for the sessions in one semester. Covering poetry, prose fiction and drama, it deals with texts by major canonical writers from Modernism to the postmodern period. Students using the book will
- read and prepare literary texts for discussion in class,
- learn to handle critical literature by themselves or in groups,
- prepare presentations and handouts ,
- write short papers or term papers,
- learn about the periods of American literature,
- learn to analyse texts in terms of genre and cultural setting,
- deepen their knowledge of literary theory.

The structure of the book indicates the fact that it is meant for daily, practical, use in class: Part A contains the entire course material, including the syllabus, concrete suggestions for dealing with the texts in the individual sessions, short and essential lists of critical literature and a list of topics for papers; Part B offers further bibliographical help, such as critical literature and academic websites to be used for papers; Part C (three modular exams) provides opportunities for students to test their knowledge; and the final Part D consists of a glossary of literary terms, with sections on rhetorical figures and key terms for the analysis of poetry, prose and drama. At the end, a brief survey of the generally accepted periods of British literature rounds off the coursebook.
A remarkable feature of the book is its combination of practical learning/teaching and literary theory.

Contents




Introduction 1

General remarks 1

How to use this book 1



A Course material 3

A.1 Syllabus 3

A.2 The sessions 6

Session 1: General introduction; Modernist poetry (Pound, Williams) 7

Session 2: Modernist poetry (Imagism, Eliot, Stevens) 13

Session 3: Modernist poetry: Dada / Surrealism (cummings, Stevens) 16

Session 4: Modernist poetry: The Harlem Renaissance (Hughes, Cullen) 19

Session 5: Modernist drama (O'Neill, Wilder) 22

Session 6: Modernist fiction: Realism and Naturalism (Dreiser, Anderson) 25

Session 7: 1930s-1950s: Poetry (Jarrell, Ginsberg) 29

Session 8: Post-war drama (Williams, Miller) 32

Session 9: 1930s-1950s: Fiction (Faulkner, Fitzgerald) 36

Session 10: Postmodern poetry (Lowell, Plath, Bishop) 39

Session 11: Postmodern poetry (Dove, Rich) 42

Session 12: Postmodern drama (Albee, Mamet) 45

Session 13: Postmodernist fiction (Carver, Pynchon) 48

Session 14: Postmodern fiction and the Graphic novel (Walker, Spiegelman) 52



A.3 Suggestions for the composition of presentations 55

General remarks 55

A few caveats 56

Suggestions for each session 57

A.4 Topics for short papers and term papers
B Bibliography 69

B.1 American literature 1900-2000. A short bibliographical guide 69

1.1 Bibliographies 69

1.2 Poetry 69

1.3 Prose 72

1.4 Drama 73



B.2 Further reading for each session 75