ENGL 3640 - Studies in U.S. Literature After 1950: American Literature, the 1980s

(crosslisted)
(also AMST 3640, ASRC 3640) (LA-AS)

Spring. 4 credits.

D. Woubshet.

This course will explore literature of the 1980s against the broader cultural and historical landscape of 80s America. In many ways, we live in the immediate shadow of the 1980s, but our slight remove from the decade affords us a chance to look back at the literature and culture of the 80s with some distance (and familiarity). In this course, we will give particular emphasis to the following themes: postmodernism, the blurring of literary genres, the blurring of taste (high vs. low culture), the emphasis on (racial, gender, and sexual) difference, pop culture, and history. Authors may include: Don DeLillo, Kurt Vonnegut, Maxine Hong Kingston, Thomas Pynchon, Toni Morrison, Norman Mailer, Ishmael Reed, Audre Lorde, and Gloria Anzaldúa