Spring 2007 Courses

English 380-01: Topics in 20th Century African American Literature: Contemporary African American Novels (English)

W 7:00-10:00pm, MAIN 001
Prerequisite: A 100-level course in English literature

In this seminar-style course, we will explore and appreciate one of the most powerful and influential literary forms of our day, the African American novel. We will read novels published between 1982 and the present that vary widely in form and content. We will ask a number of questions of ourselves and our texts: Why has the novel been, and why does it continue to be, such a dominant form in the African American literary tradition? Why do our chosen authors turn so often to the past in their novels, and how and to what ends do they render racial and national histories? How does the representation of trauma, particularly the trauma of slavery, affect literary form? What happens when African American novels become "unnationed" and unmoored from time, crossing and re-crossing borders and eras? How do our authors represent queer black identities? What is the significance of the current "boom" in African American genre fiction, including detective and speculative fiction?

These and many other questions, to be generated by the class itself, will guide our reading of novels such as Toni Morrison's Beloved, Alice Walker's The Color Purple, Ernest Gaines's A Lesson Before Dying, Walter Mosley's Black Betty, Octavia Butler's Kindred, and Colson Whitehead's The Intuitionist. We will also be reading a substantial body of relevant literary criticism. Requirements include: written discussion questions on each novel, an in-class presentation, one brief 3-5 page paper, and one substantial term paper of about 20 pages. This course fulfills the U.S. writers of color requirement for the English major and the domestic diversity general education requirement.

Spring 2007 Course Listings