Modules

Empire of Liberty: American Literature, 1776 to Present (EAS2112)

30 credits

This module introduces some of the major texts and issues involved in the literature of the United States over the past two hundred and fifty years. You will study a broad range of texts - including poetry, the novel, the short story, drama and autobiography - as well as the intersections of the literature of the United States with broader literary and contextual issues, such as literary nationalism and the emergence of modernism.

You will learn how the dynamic and turbulent social and historic development of the US during this time is reflected through literature, considering contexts such as the constitution of the democratic state, the problematic history of ethnic and race relations, the nature of urban and rural space, the changing gender politics of US society, and how transnational models of culture have affected our understanding of the US literary canon.