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2020/2021

Modern North American Literature

Code: 100247 ECTS Credits: 6
Degree Type Year Semester
2500245 English Studies OB 3 1
2501902 English and Catalan OT 3 0
2501902 English and Catalan OT 4 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 3 0
2501907 English and Classics OT 4 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 3 0
2501910 English and Spanish OT 4 0
2501913 English and French OT 3 0
2501913 English and French OT 4 0
The proposed teaching and assessment methodology that appear in the guide may be subject to changes as a result of the restrictions to face-to-face class attendance imposed by the health authorities.

Contact

Name:
Laura Gimeno Pahissa
Email:
Laura.Gimeno@uab.cat

Use of Languages

Principal working language:
english (eng)
Some groups entirely in English:
Yes
Some groups entirely in Catalan:
No
Some groups entirely in Spanish:
No

Teachers

Andrew Monnickendam Findlay

Prerequisites

  1. Students should have passed "Literatura anglesa s.XX" and "19th century American Literature". 
  2. The students' level of English should be between C1 (advanced) and C2 (proficiency) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment.
  3. History and Culture of the U.S. is a necessary previous requirement to take this course.

 

 

 

Objectives and Contextualisation

Literatura nord-americana moderna (Modern American Literature) provides an overview to the fiction and poetry written by American authors during Modernism.  The subject involves the reading, analysis, debate and interpretation of the selected works.

On successfully completing Literatura nord-americana moderna, students will be able to:

 • Demonstrate a good level of reading knowledge as regards the key literary works of American Modernism.

• Produce literary criticism through essays and presentations.

• Use the resources of any university library relating to material on the literature of American Modernism.

• Express an informed opinion on the literary texts studied throughout this course.

Competences

    English Studies
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    English and Catalan
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    English and Classics
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    English and Spanish
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
    English and French
  • Critically assessing the scientific, literary and cultural production in the English language.
  • Demonstrate a comprehension of the relationship between factors, processes and phenomena of linguistics, literature, history and culture, and explaining it.
  • Demonstrate they know a wide variety of texts in English language of any mean (oral, written, audiovisual) and recognising implicit meanings.
  • Distinguish and contrast the various theoretical and methodological models applied to the study of the English language, its literature and its culture.
  • Identify the main literary, cultural and historical currents in the English language.
  • Produce clear and well structured and detailed texts in English about complex topics, displaying a correct use of the organisation, connection and cohesion of the text.
  • Rewrite and organize information and arguments coming from several sources in English and presenting them in a coherent and summarised way.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Analysing and interpreting in a basic level literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  2. Analysing and interpreting texts in a medium level about the literary genres and literary criticism in English.
  3. Appropriately place literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding linguistic context.
  4. Appropriately placing literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding historical and cultural context.
  5. Appropriately placing literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era in their corresponding linguistic context.
  6. Carry out oral presentations in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  7. Carrying out oral presentations in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  8. Communicating in the studied language in oral and written form, properly using vocabulary and grammar.
  9. Compare in a medium level the methodologies of literary criticism in English.
  10. Comparing in a medium level the methodologies of literary criticism in English.
  11. Contextualize literary texts in contemporary times before in its corresponding English language environment.
  12. Describing the historical and thematic evolution of the literary text in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  13. Distinguish the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of contemporary literary texts in English.
  14. Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of literary texts of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  15. Distinguishing the main ideas from the secondary ones and summarising the contents of primary and secondary texts related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  16. Draw up brief argumentative essays or text comments in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  17. Drawing up brief argumentative essays or text comments in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  18. Effectively communicating and applying the argumentative and textual processes to formal and scientific texts.
  19. Identifying the main currents, authors, genres and texts of the main literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  20. Localise secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  21. Localising secondary academic sources in the library or on the Internet related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  22. Make judgements of value in relation to the literary criticism in English associated with the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  23. Making judgements of value in relation to the literary criticism in English associated with the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  24. Participating in face-to-face and virtual debates in English about topics related to literary texts in English of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  25. Summarise the content of primary and secondary academic sources related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.
  26. Summarising the content of primary and secondary academic sources related to the English literature of periods preceding the contemporary era.

Content

The course is divided into five units

Unit 1 Henry James: Washington Square

Unit 2 Ernest Hemingway:  A Farewell to Arms

Unit 3 F.S. Fitzgerald: The Great Gatsby

Unit 4 Nella Larsen: Passing

Unit 5 Modernist poetry: Robert Frost, Langston Hughes, Marianne Moore, Edna St Vincent Millay etc. 

For the first five set texts, please procure an annotated edition with notes and introduction, such as Oxford World's Classics or Penguin Classics.

 

Methodology

1. Lectures will be based on in class discussion and analysis of the historical, cultural and literary background of the US during the first half of the 20th century. Texts will be discussed in class and  this is why students should have read them well in advance.
 
2. Styudying literature involves a deep reflective reading  of primary sources. 

Activities

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Directed activities 50 2 15, 23, 7, 17
Type: Supervised      
Supervised activities 25 1 12, 24, 26
Type: Autonomous      
Autonomous activities 50 2 14, 19, 21

Assessment

1. Exams (2) = 90% (2 x 45%).
The first exam will take place by mid November and the second one just before the Christmas holidays.
 
2. Class participation = 10%  (in-class debates and forums).
 
3. PLEASE NOTE: 
-All the subjects in this degree follow continuous assessment.
-Students will obtain a Not assessed/Not submitted course grade unless they have submitted more than 45% of the assessment items.
-The student’s command of English will be taken into account when marking all exercises and for the final mark. 

 

-Re-assessment conditions: 

Re-assessment for this subject requires a content-synthesis test, for which the following conditions are applicable:

-The student must previously have submitted a minimum of two-thirds of the course-assessment items.

-The student must previously have obtained an average overall grade equal to or higher than 3.5.

-The student must previously have passed 45% of the subject’s assessment requirements.

-The maximum grade than can be obtained through re-assessment is 5.

-The following activities are not eligible for reassessment: forums and class participation

Students can't attend the reàssessment to improve their marks. If the student can't attend the exam because s/he is sick, they will have to agree on an alternative date with the teacher.

-Procedure for Reviewing Grades Awarded: On carrying out each evaluation activity, lecturers will inform students (on Moodle) of the procedures to be followed for reviewing all grades awarded, and the date on which such a review will take place. 
 
PLAGIARISM: In the event of a student committing any irregularity that may lead to a significant variation in the grade awarded to an assessment activity, the student will be given a zero for this activity, regardless of any disciplinary process that may take place. In the event of several irregularities in assessment activities of the same subject, the student will be given a zero as the final grade for this subject.
 PLAGIARISING consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources –
whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text– with the intention of passing it off as the student’s own production. It includes cutting and pasting from internet sources, presented unmodified in the student’s own text. Plagiarising is a SERIOUS OFFENCE. Students must
respect authors’ intellectual property, always identifying the sources they may use; they must also be responsible for the originality and authenticity of their own texts.
 

In the event that tests or exams cannot be taken onsite, they will be adapted to an online format made available through the UAB’s virtual tools (original weighting will be maintained). Homework, activities and class participation will be carried out through forums, wikis and/or discussion on Teams, etc. Lecturers will ensure that students are able to access these virtual tools, or will offer them feasible alternatives.

 
 
 
 
 

Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Participation 10% 21 0.84 1, 2, 11, 4, 3, 5, 12, 14, 15, 13, 23, 18, 8, 7, 6, 19, 24, 25
Written assessment 1 45% 2 0.08 1, 2, 10, 9, 11, 4, 3, 5, 12, 14, 15, 13, 23, 22, 18, 8, 19, 21, 20, 24, 17, 16, 26, 25
Written assessment 2 45% 2 0.08 1, 2, 10, 9, 11, 4, 3, 5, 12, 14, 15, 13, 23, 22, 18, 8, 19, 21, 20, 24, 17, 16, 26, 25

Bibliography

READINGS

1. Henry James, Washington Square

Penguin edition. ISBN:  9780141441368

Oxford edition. ISBN: 9780199559190

2. Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms

Vintage edition. ISBN: 9780099273974

3. F.S.Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby

Penguin edition. ISBN: 9780141182636

Oxford edition. ISBN: 9780199536405

4. Nella Larsen, Passing

Penguin edition. ISBN:  9780142437278

5. Seleccions de poesia modernista

 

SECONDARY BIBLIOGRAPHY

(More specific bibliography will be provided during the semester)

Bigsby, Christopher. The Cambridge Companion to Modern American Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.

Cowley, Malcolm. Exile’s Return: A Literary Odyssey of the 1920s. New York: Penguin, 1994.

GrayRichard J. A History of American Literature. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 2004.

Lewis, Pericles. The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007.

Mitchell, Angelyn (ed). Within the Circle: An Anthology of African American Literary Criticism from the Harlem Renaissance to the Present. Durham: Duke University Press, 1994.

Showalter, Elaine. A Jury of Her Peers: American Women Writers from Anne Bradstreet to Annie Proulx. London: Little, Brown Book Group, 2010.

Sollors, Werner (ed.). ANew Literary History of America. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2009.