98年第2學期-0153 美國文學 課程資訊

評分方式

評分項目	配分比例	說明
Writing Assignments: (shorter paper)	30
Report on a major period and/or writer. Group effort 5 per group	10
Quizzes	20
Mid term exam	15
Final exam	25

教育目標

1. Help students build a solid foundation for their study of American English, and American Literatures, in keeping with the requirements and objectives of required courses in the English Majors program. Included as part of this agenda, students will examine major literary figures and periods and gain knowledge of the relationship between each writer and his or her respective social moment and its historical significance. 2. Study the process whereby different social aspects of American Society, including democracy, the rule of law, civil rights, property rights, freedoms of speech and conscience, and the progress of a modernizing world have lead to innovations in human thought and social practice, as well as to deep social divisions and dissent. Many of these cultural developments derive their origins from the Western Tradition, (e.g. Greek political ideals, the Roman legal tradition, Christianity, the medieval concept of chivalry, the industrial revolution, European colonialism, modernity, etc.). 3. Examine critically (but not necessarily answer) several major thematic questions. Should one, e.g., continue to use the singular concept “American culture” or is it more appropriate to talk about “American cultures” in the plural? Is American culture markedly different from other cultures or would it be more appropriate to emphasize the global continuity that has allowed American popular and material cultures to become distributed around the world? In short, is America a “mixed” or “hybrid” culture? 4 . Offer students perspectives on American literature and culture that will encourage an understanding of all human culture as a construct and thus foster critical thought regarding many aspects of the human experience such as, e.g., governmental systems; religion, myth, and ritual; gender roles; notions of social class; race and ethnicity; etc.

課程概述

This course introduces students to American literature, from Native American literary traditions before Columbus up through the present day, and the historical concerns that mark particular literary epochs. What vision do American writers have of their country, and how do they express their own relationship to it? We will also consider these issues in a larger sense, so that students not only develop an understanding of American literary history but also how any particular country developes a vision of itself through its literature.

基本資料

必修課，學分數：3-3
上課時間：三/2[FL010] 一/6,7[FL012]
修課班級：外文系4B
修課年級：年級以上
選課備註：

參考書目

The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym, et. al. Shorter 7th Ed.
New York: WW Norton & Company, 2009.