This course has been changed to an online format. You will be contacted by your instructor after the end of the registration period. Please check you HU-email address to receive the URL and password to the Moodle course!
In his essay “The Idea of Adolescence in American Fiction“ Ihab Hassan‘s argues that “the cult of adolescence“ has played a constitutive role in the emergence of a distinctively American literature. Similarly, Leslie Fiedler has suggested that the themes of American literature “belong to the pre-adult world“ as a reflection of an ongoing effort to come to terms with the ideas of innocence and experience as key coordinates of American cultural history. Based upon a critical discussion of these assumptions as well as the specific genre characteristics of young adult fiction the course explores various literary representations of the theme of ado-lescence and their corresponding narrative strategies in selected novels and short stories and evaluates their relevance for the formation of American litera-ture since the 19th century.
Among others, writings by M. Twain, H. Alger, St. Crane, L. M. Alcott, W. Faulk-ner, J.D. Salinger, R. Cormier, L. Lowry, S. Alexie and L. Oliver will serve as case studies for a comparative analysis of the themes and narrative strategies under-lying the construction of adolescent images in texts intended for both adult and young adult readers.
Course requirements include active class participation, one in-class presentation and a final paper.
Please register for the course via AGNES. |
