EN 936 Ph.D. Seminar: Pulp, Popular, Proletarian (Spring: 3)

This is a course on the underground worlds of American writing that often remain out of view in the academy. Working from contemporary cultural studies, we will focus on three different forms of nineteenth and twentieth century American prose: working class narrative (for instance, proletarian fiction or memoir from the 1930s) "pulp" or sensational literatures (dime novels, or nonfiction exposés of poverty, prisons, or crime); and popular romance genres (adventure, mystery, "true confessions"). Readings will include not only samples of these particular genres, but attempts by well-known American writers to adapt them to elite practices and experimental styles.
Christopher Wilson

Last Updated: 29-JAN-13