ENGL 202: Six American Authors

This course introduces students to major concerns and genres in American literature through reading, discussing, and writing about a variety of significant texts. The course considers questions such as: How do American debates, including those about race, empire, gender, sexuality, individualism, and freedom shape major narratives? How have literary texts mirrored and intervened in the histories and cultures that shape the present and possible futures? And what unique insights does literature provide into those same histories and cultures? This course satisfies the US Diversity requirement, and as such, all sections will foreground marginalized perspectives and interrogate how literature both challenges and upholds oppressive social structures.