General information
| Course name | Seminar: "Coming to America" - Fictional Literary Representations of Immigration to the US (19th-21st Century) |
| Semester | WS 2017/18 |
| Current number of participants | 7 |
| expected number of participants | 30 |
| Home institute | Institut für Anglistik und Amerikanistik |
| Courses type | Seminar in category Offizielle Lehrveranstaltungen |
| First date | Tuesday, 10.10.2017 08:00 - 10:00, Room: (AKH SR3) |
| Participants |
The vast numbers of immigrants who have settled in the United States since the territory's discovery have shaped the country's present extraordinary ethnic diversity. Many Americans today and in past generations grew up listening to stories from their parents or grandparents about what it was like to come to a new country and struggle to build a life for themselves and their families. Stories of immigration have fueled literary creativity in a variety of oral or written, fictional or non-fictional genres throughout the past centuries. Strictly speaking, all literature produced in the US or the former British colonies, which is not of Native American origin, can be considered 'immigration literature'. However, the term is most often, also for the purpose of this course, limited to literature which thematically - and often also linguistically - deals with the encounter of the foreign-born with the presumably dominant Anglo-American culture. This course will focus on immigrant fiction produced after US independence, and chronologically move through the second and third immigration wave up until the present fourth immigration wave. First, we will delve into a socio-historical overview of these immigration waves to then enable us to read, analyze and discuss novels (listed below), short stories, and poetry by a variety of authors from different immigrant backgrounds, such as Jewish-American, Asian-American, and Latino. |
| Pre-requisites | Students who have successfully passed their "Introduction to Literary Studies” (Basismodul Einführung in die englische und amerikanische Literaturwissenschaft) are welcome to this course on selected works of US immigrant fiction. |
| Performance record |
Students will need to pass two quizzes and report their findings on an individual reading task if they want credit for this seminar. Quizzes are announced tests checking on whether students have read the novels, while the reading task will help us delve deeper into the analysis of "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao". Please, do not miss more than three sessions as our classes will provide you with the absolutely necessary opportunity of discussing your interpretations and interacting with your co-students and the lecturer. All students are expected to participate actively in discussions. Also, students must present in class (20 min. plus discussion time) on a topic to be arranged with the lecturer and accompanied by a handout (Thesenpapier). Your handout is expected by your lecturer a week before your presentation is due. A copy of the reviewed handout must be available to all students on the day of presentation. Reading assignments (secondary literature and primary literature) will be given on a weekly basis. At the end of the semester BA students will have to write a term paper (Hausarbeit) of ca. 12-15 pages, whereas students in education programs will have to take an oral exam of 30 min. The BA essays are due at the end of March. |
| Studiengänge (für) |
LAG, LAS BA |
| SWS | 2 |
| Miscellanea |
Please BUY ALL THREE NOVELS (whichever edition you choose) and familiarize yourselves with them until the course begins. Díaz, Junot. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. Okada, John. No-No Boy. Yezierksa, Anzia. Bread Givers. |
| ECTS points | 5 |
