EN 734 African American Writers of the 20th and 21st Centuries (Spring: 3)
This course introduces graduate students to the field of African American
literature, an increasingly important sub-field within contemporary English
departments. Focusing on several genres (sci-fi, neo-slave narratives,
memoir, short stories), we will read Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Octavia
Butler, Percival Everett, Michael Thomas, and Junot Diaz, among others.
In addition to exploring themes such as post-Emancipation notions of freedom,
life under Jim Crow, and the influence of oral and vernacular culture on
black literature, we will also consider how fiction has responded to recent
Caribbean and African migration, the exploding rate of black incarceration,
and the "War on Terror."
Cynthia Young
Last Updated: 10-JAN-13