Anoka Ramsey Community College
English 2235: American Literature Since 1865
Course Description:
Focus on American literature from approximately 1865 to the present. Readings will include short fiction and poetry, but may also include novels, plays, essays, and other creative nonfiction. Students will gain a sense of the historical and cultural significance of the literature and will analyze, interpret, and evaluate the literary works.
Successful completion of ENGL 1121 is recommended.
Learner Outcomes:
At the conclusion of this course, you, the student, should be able to:
Read, discuss, analyze, interpret, and evaluate representative works of American literature from approximately 1865 to the present.
Understand how the selected works of American literature studied reflect the characteristics and values of the people and times in which they are written.
Recognize the important historical events and socio-political movements in the United States from the 1860s to the present, particularly as these events shaped and are reflected in literature.
Recognize how race, ethnic group, gender, class, and sexuality differences in the United States both inform and are illustrated by literature, how these differences have reshaped the "traditional" American literature canon, and how literature can be used to discuss, understand, and appreciate these differences.
Understand the literary characteristics of the Ages of Realism, Modernism, and Post-Modernism.
Place selected American authors within one or more literary movements and/or periods.
Recognize how writers who have been considered to be "minority" or "diverse" both resist and fit into the commonly accepted literary periods and appreciate what these writers contribute to the American literature canon.
Understand the literary meanings of such concepts as Romanticism, Local Color, Regionalism, Realism, Naturalism, Modernism, and Post-Modernism.
Appreciate the ways in which American literature helps us understand ourselves, other people, and the world around us.
Analyze and discuss specific works of American literature using appropriate literary terminology to describe the technical elements of fiction, creative non-fiction, poetry, and drama.
Use various writing techniques to analyze literature.
Use different critical approaches (such as historical criticism, biographical criticism, reader-response criticism, feminist criticism, psychoanalytic criticism, etc.) to analyze, interpret, and evaluate selected works of American literature.
Read selected works of American literature and present, through activities such as group discussion, journals, response papers, critical essays, reviews, and examinations, a personal interpretation and/or evaluation of the selected works of literature.