IDENTIFYING DATA 2022_23
Subject (*) NORTH-AMERICAN LITERATURE Code 12274216
Study programme
Bachelor's Degree in English Studies (2009)
 Cycle 1st
Descriptors Credits Type Year Period
6 Optional 2Q
Language
Anglès
Department English and German Studies
Coordinator
BRUGUES MELLADO, CRISTINA
 E-mail geraintpaul.rees@urv.cat
cristina.brugues@urv.cat
Lecturers
REES , GERAINT PAUL
BRUGUES MELLADO, CRISTINA
Web
General description and relevant information <p>This course examines a broad range of literary texts (poetry, short story, the essay form and the novel) covering the three main periods of American Literature: the Romantic, the Modern and the Contemporary. We will start with the literature of American Romanticism, also known as the American Renaissance which set the patterns, artistic and philosophical, for much of the American literature to follow as well as much of what we now consider distinctively American mentalities and ideals. We will focus on key aspects of the American Romantic mindset, which will be considered against the historical and cultural backdrop of the Ante-bellum era. The second part of the course will examine the multiform nature of American modernism in the first part of the twentieth century. This period developed in dialogue with several phenomena of modernity: newly national forms of social and economic integration; new models of perspective and experience emerging from psychology, philosophy and science; changes in urban cultural institutions; a fruitful ambivalence towards a technologically and economically innovative mass culture; and new sexual and political discourses that were rapidly altering the social understanding of sex and gender. We will pursue an interdisciplinary study of this moment of cultural ferment by looking at two classic novels by ‘The Lost Generation’ authors John Steinbeck and Ernest Hemingway. The final part of the course addresses the cultural, philosophical, social, economic and aesthetic concerns that arose in the aftermath of World War II, the return of American prosperity, and the expansion of the middle class. We will explore the contemporary American novel that draws upon a particular formal stylistic repertoire such as self-reflexivity, new-ness, and being consciously experimental; social and cultural trends like identity politics; the rise of multiculturalism and the full range of postmodern experimentation that characterize the period.</p>

Competences
Type A Code Competences Specific
 A5 Dominar la llengua anglesa des d’un punt de vista teòric i pràctic i expressar-s’hi oralment i per escrit de manera fluida i precisa.
 A6 Analitzar les obres més rellevants de la literatura en llengua anglesa en els seus diversos entorns culturals.
Type B Code Competences Transversal
 CT7 Apply ethical principles and social responsibility as a citizen and a professional.
Type C Code Competences Nuclear

Learning outcomes
Type A Code Learning outcomes
 A5 Mostra un maneig de la llengua anglesa (de forma oral i/o escrita) en contextos diversos a un nivell superior.
 A6 Coneix els principals gèneres i formes literàries en llengua anglesa.
Analitza i comenta textos literaris de forma oral i/o escrita.
Coneix els principals moviments literaris i la seva inserció en els diversos contextos culturals i històrics.
Type B Code Learning outcomes
 CT7 Students are aware of the inequalities and the discrimination caused by gender and other factors, and understand the reasons that account for them.
Be able to identify major environmental problems.
Recognise and reflect on social needs and problems, and get involved in improving the community.
Recognise the ethical and deontological concepts in their field of expertise, show an ability for criticism and dialogue, and respect the rules and regulations that members of the university community must abide by.
Type C Code Learning outcomes

Contents
Topic Sub-topic
American Romanticism: Gothic Poetics and the Short Story Emily Dickinson’s poetry

Nathaniel Hawthorne, “The Birthmark”

Herman Melville, “The Bell-Tower”

Edgar Allan Poe, “The Philosophy of Composition,” “The Raven,” “Ligeia,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Man in the Crowd” and “William Wilson.”
American Modernism
Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea

Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men
Contemporary American Fiction: Self, Race, and Community Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye

Planning
Methodologies  ::  Tests
  Competences (*) Class hours
 Hours outside the classroom
 (**) Total hours
Introductory activities
1 0 1
Seminars
A5
A6
 52 82 134
Personal attention
1 0 1
 
Short-answer objective tests
A6
 2 4 6
Extended-answer tests
A6
 4 4 8
 
(*) On e-learning, hours of virtual attendance of the teacher.
(**) The information in the planning table is for guidance only and does not take into account the heterogeneity of the students.

Methodologies
Methodologies
  Description
Introductory activities Students will be introduced to the particular ideosincratic nature of American literature at the beginning of the course.
Seminars Students will be exposed to an array of texts and authors so that they become familiar with the most important voices in American literature.
Personal attention Students are welcome to use my visiting hours to come individually or in groups and discuss any relevant aspects of the course.

Personalized attention
Description
Students are welcome to use my visiting hours to come individually or in groups and discuss any relevant aspects of the course.

Assessment
Methodologies Competences Description Weight        
Extended-answer tests
A6
 Final Essay
Your final essay is intended to give you an opportunity to think critically about the material we have read and to explore these texts by presenting a coherent argument which will be substantiated in the paper. The paper should be 2.000 words long, due on the first week of January. Your paper will require library research and use of critical and theoretical secondary sources. 		50%
Short-answer objective tests
A6
 Mid-term exam
The mid-term exam will last approximately one hour and it will take place on the first week of November.
25%
Others  

Participation and attendance (10%) You should come to class prepared to address the day's material. This means completing all the primary reading before class, bringing the reading to class, and being prepared to discuss the reading thoughtfully. During class discussion, I expect you to be attentive to what your classmates have to say and respectful of their ideas and opinions. Oral presentation (15%) Oral presentations will be conducted individually according to the table schedule uploaded on Moodle. They must be approximately 10-15 minutes long. For the purposes of the presentation, you should conduct extensive library and internet research. A handout including important quotations, topics covered, and works consulted must be prepared and provided to each class member. You should also be prepared to answer questions at the end of your presentation. All your sources will have to be acknowledged orally and in the handout.

25%
 
Other comments and second exam session

If you do not, or cannot, complete the Continuous Assessment programme satisfactorily, you will have to write a Research Paper, in the Segona Convocatoria.

The Segona Convocatoria, will consist of a 3,000-3,500 word analysis of author(s) and work(s) developed through close reading and secondary sources. The Research Paper should provide an authoritative answer which demonstrates a good command of the topic and independent thought. It should be a critically acute and perceptive piece of work, demonstrating an ability to analyse the significance and function of literary features.

The mark achieved by the student in this final paper will amount to 100% of their overall course mark.

All papers will be submitted to the platform Ouriginal. Cases of plagiarism will result in the automatic failure of the specific CA component of the course in which it is detected. This will imply the failure of the CA. A recurrence of plagiarism in the same student's work will result in a '0' - Suspension being given as a final course mark.

Sources of information

Basic Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea, ,
Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye, ,
John Steinbeck, Mice and Men, ,

Students will have access to the class readings through Moodle.

 
Complementary

Recommendations

Subjects that are recommended to be taken simultaneously
LITERATURE/12274001
INTRODUCTION TO ENGLISH LITERATURE/12274121

Subjects that it is recommended to have taken before
LITERATURE AND SOCIETY/12274009
ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH TEXTS I/12274119
ANALYSIS OF ENGLISH TEXTS II/12274120
 
Other comments
Familiarity with and understanding of the content of the lectures and how it applies to the texts studied will be tested in all the formative assessments.
(*)The teaching guide is the document in which the URV publishes the information about all its courses. It is a public document and cannot be modified. Only in exceptional cases can it be revised by the competent agent or duly revised so that it is in line with current legislation.