ENG 254 — Survey of American Lit II
This series of courses is a survey of American literature spanning pre-Columbian America to present day with emphasis on literary and cultural values. The courses are designed to introduce students to a variety of different writers and to help students develop a sense of how literature and culture has evolved from the pre-colonial period through the early 21st Century. In doing so, we will also explore the different forms popular in these periods, from sermons and autobiographies to short stories, poems, and plays. While students will be introduced to stylistic aspects of the texts, such as diction, imagery, meter, irony, dialogue, and metaphor, the course will focus on the relation between the literature and the historical and social context in which each work was written. The classes will cover a range of subjects, including representations of gender, class, and race in American literature, using a variety of critical and analytical approaches. These courses are writing intensive; courses need not be taken in sequence. ENG 253 examines early American literature from Native American oral tradition through the American Renaissance of the mid-19th Century. Offered in alternating fall terms (2023, 2025, 2027) ENG254 examines American literature from the post-Civil War Reconstruction era to the mid-20th Century. Offered in alternating winter terms (2024, 2026, 2028) ENG 255 examines modern and contemporary American literature from the mid-20th Century to present day. Offered in