Global Arc

An examination of the responses of Victorian novelists, poets, social critics, and graphic artists to poverty, industrialization, the "woman question," prostitution, slum life, and other social and political issues of the day. Special emphasis on the development of a language and imagery of social criticism. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

This course studies the literature of the last decades of the Victorian era, often referred to as the fin de siècle (or end of the century). It will focus on literary, cultural, and social developments in the final years of the nineteenth century and first years of the twentieth, among them aestheticism, decadence, literary naturalism, imperialism, socialism, the arts and crafts movement, and the "new woman." Authors to be considered include Wilde, Conrad, Pater, Schreiner, Shaw, Hopkins, Hardy, Bridges, Kipling, Morris, Gissing, and Stevenson. Two ninety-minute lectures, one-hour preceptorial.

A study of the major forms and traditions of American literature during the earlier 19th century, with main emphasis on such writers as Poe, Hawthorne, Melville, Emerson, Thoreau, Dickinson, and Whitman. The artistic achievement of these writers will be studied in relation to developing literary conventions and cultural patterns in pre-Civil War America. Two 90-minute seminars.

A study of the development of American literature within the context of the shifting social, intellectual, and literary conventions of the period. Emphasis will be on the artistic achievement of writers such as James, Howells, Twain, Dreiser, Crane, Adams, Wharton, Cather, Fitzgerald, and Faulkner. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

An investigation of issues outside the scope of traditional surveys of American literature. Topics may include: definitions of "America," literature of the South, contemporary poetry, New Historicism, America on film, the Harlem Renaissance, the Vietnam War, the sentimental novel, colonial encounters, literature of the Americas, fictions of empire, Jewish American writers. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

An investigation of issues outside the scope of traditional surveys of American literature. Topics may include: definitions of "America," literature of the South, contemporary poetry, New Historicism, America on film, the Harlem Renaissance, the Vietnam War, the sentimental novel, colonial encounters, literature of the Americas, fictions of empire. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

The Caribbean is an archipelago made up of islands that both link and separate the Americas - islands that have weathered various waves of colonization, migration, and revolution. How do narratives of the Caribbean represent the collision of political forces and natural environments? Looking to the many abyssal histories of the Caribbean, we will explore questions of indigeneity, colonial contact, iterations of enslavement, and the plantation matrix in literary texts. How do island-writers evoke gender and a poetics of relation that exceeds tourist desire and forceful extraction?

The Modern movement in English fiction, from Conrad and Joyce to the present. Two lectures, one preceptorial.

A study of major plays by Ibsen, Strindberg, Jarry, Chekhov, Pirandello, Brecht, and Beckett. Emphasis will be given to the theatrical revolutions they initiated and to the influence they continue to exert on contemporary drama and theater. Two 90-minute seminars.

A study of modern American writings, from Faulkner to Diaz, that emphasize the interplay between formal experimentation and thematic diversity. Two lectures, one preceptorial.