XHSC 0911B 20th Century American Literature

Credits: .5

Engages students in the analysis of modern American (1900-present) literary movements, figures and their styles of writing. Explores elements of the short story. Develops understanding of meaning from context, making inferences and interpreting themes in modern American literature.

Student Learning Outcomes:

Summarize the role of literature in recording, reflecting and communicating human events in modern American cultures
Analyze elements of short fiction and explain how these elements are developed throughout modern American literary movements
Identify themes in literary works and provide support for interpretations from the texts

Content Outline

Modernism and The Lost Generation
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
- Ernest Hemingway
The Harlem Renaissance
- Langston Hughes
- Zora Neale Hurston
Realism
- John Steinbeck
- Jack London
Symbolism
- John Cheever
- Ray Bradbury
- Flannery O’Conner
- Shirley Jackson
African-American Authors
- Ralph Ellison
- James Baldwin
- Richard Wright
- Toni Morrison
- Alice Walker
Dirty Realism
- Charles Bukowski
- Raymond Carver
- Tobias Wolff
- Richard Ford
Modern Voices
- T.C. Boyle
- Sandra Cisneros
- Louise Erdrich
- Ursula K. LeGuin
- Tim O’Brien
- Joyce Carol Oates
Analyzing Elements of Fiction
- Plot
- Setting
- Character
- Point of view
- Theme
- Inference
- Style