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Literature of the United States III: From 1950 to the Present

Code: 106306 ECTS Credits: 6
2025/2026
Degree Type Year
English Studies OB 3

Contact

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

Teaching groups languages

You can view this information at the end of this document.


Prerequisites

  1. Prior to do this subject, it is highly recommended that students have taken the following subjects: "US Literature 1" from the Second Year and "US Literature 2" from the Third Year of the English Studies degree.
  2. It is necessary to have a C2 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching and Assessment."A C2 level of English allows students to: understand with ease virtually everything heard or read; summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstruct arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation; express themselves spontaneously, very fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in the most complex situations.

Objectives and Contextualisation

  1. This subject fosters the analysis, debate and interpretation of prose, poetry, and drama written in the United States from the second half of the twentieth century to the present.  
  2. On successfully completing "US Literature 3", students will be able to: show a good level of reading comprehension and analysis of American literature from the period; produce written analyses of literary texts studied in class; manage secondary bibliography and databases; express an informed opinion on the texts studied throughout this course.

Competences

  • Apply scientific ethical principles to information processing.
  • Apply the methodology of analysis and critical concepts to analysing the literature, culture and history of English-speaking countries.
  • Demonstrate skills to work autonomously and in teams to fulfil the planned objectives.
  • Identify and analyse the main currents, genres, works and authors in English and comparative literature.
  • Students must be capable of communicating information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
  • Understand and produce written and spoken academic texts in English at advanced higher-proficient-user level (C2).
  • Use current philological methodologies to interpret literary texts in English and their cultural and historical context.
  • Use digital tools and specific documentary sources for the collection and organisation of information.
  • Use written and spoken English for academic and professional purposes, related to the study of linguistics, the philosophy of language, history, English culture and literature.

Learning Outcomes

  1. Critically analyse American texts in order to understand the complexity of American literature and its historical and cultural context.
  2. Express oneself effectively orally and in writing using expository and argumentative techniques.
  3. Express oneself orally and in writing in English in an academic register, using appropriate terminology in relation to the study of American literature.
  4. Identify and describe the characteristics of the American texts studied.
  5. Incorporate ideas and concepts from published sources into work, citing and referencing appropriately.
  6. Interpret, comment and write essays on texts written by American authors and be able to distinguish their most relevant characteristics.
  7. Locate specialised and academic information and select this according to its relevance.
  8. Plan work effectively, individually or in groups, in order to fulfil the planned objectives.
  9. Understand specialised academic texts on research in fields related to American authors and texts.

Content

1.Americans at home:

Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire  (1947)

Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman  (1949)

John Cheever, “The Swimmer”  (1964)

Louise Glück, selections from The Seven Ages (2001)

 

2. Love, Loss and Loneliness:

Carson McCullers, The Ballad of the Sad Café  (1951)

James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room  (1956)

Sylvia Plath, selections from Ariel (1965) and Winter Trees (1971)

Elizabeth Bishop, selections from Questions of Travel (1965) and Geography III (1976)

Grace Payley, “The Loudest Voice” (1959) and “Faith in the Afternoon” (1960)

Raymond Carver, “Intimacy” (1986)

 

3. Rewriting History:

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse 5  (1969)

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye   (1970)

Louise Erdrich, “Shamengwa”  (2002)


Activities and Methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Type: Directed      
Lectures, readings and debates 50 2 1, 2, 3, 4, 6
Type: Supervised      
Writing academic texts, assessment activities in the classroom 25 1 2, 4, 5, 6
Type: Autonomous      
Reading and Studying 50 2 9, 4, 7, 8

Sessions will be organized around close reading of the texts. A historical, social and cultural context of the United States in the period studied provided in class (or on Moodle) will reinforce the textual analysis. Texts will be discussed in class (or on Moodle), so it is PARAMOUNT for students to have read the texts conscientiously before class sessions. Students are required to PARTICIPATE ACTIVELY in class discussions. 

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Annotation: Within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.


Assessment

Continous Assessment Activities

Title Weighting Hours ECTS Learning Outcomes
Class participation 10 17 0.68 9, 2, 3, 4, 6
Essay 45 4 0.16 1, 9, 4, 5, 7, 8
Exam 45 4 0.16 1, 9, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Assessment is based on:

  • Essay (in-class) = 45% 
  • Exam = 45% 
  • Class Participation = 10% 

Exact dates for all assessment activities will be confirmed at the start of the course through a course calendar published on the class Moodle. 

Please, note:

  • All the subjects in this degree follow continous assessment, unless the student opts for single assessment (see below).
  • All the exercises are COMPULSORY.
  • The submission of either the paper or the exam invalidates the student to get a final mark of "No Avaluable".
  • The student's command of English will be taken into account when marking all exercises and for the final mark. It will count as 25% of this mark for all the exercises.
  • On carrying out each assessment 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.

SINGLE ASSESSMENT:

  • If the student opts for single assessment, this will consist of an exam with three activities: a critical essay about one of the texts studied (50%) and two comparative analysis exercises (50%).

REASSESSMENT CONDITIONS:

  • The reassessment exam is a two-hour content-synthesis test scheduled by the Faculty.
  • The student must previouslyhave completed two thirds of the exercises in the continuous assessment or have completed all of the tasks for the single assessment. 
  • For the single assessment, the same reassessment method as continuous assessment will be used.
  • Students whose final average mark is 3,5 or higher can go to reassessment.
  • The reassessment exam is only awarded a pass/fail mark. The maximum grade than can be obtained through re-assessment is 5.
  • Students cannot attend the reassessment exam to improve their marks.
  • With the approval of the coordinador of studies, the professor may decide to exclude from the reassessment process those activities that s/he considers irrecuperable, such as: oral presentations, group work, or tasks related to classroom activities.
  • 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. 

VERY IMPORTANT : Partial or total plagiarising will immediately result in a FAIL (0) for the plagiarised exercise (first-year students) or the WHOLE subject (second-, third- and fourth-year students).PLAGIARISING consists of copying text from unacknowledged sources -whether this is part of a sentence or a whole text - with theintention of passing it off as the student'sown production. It includes cuttingand 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 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.

Irregularities refer, for instance, to copying in an exam, copying from sources without indiacting authorship, or a misuse of AI such as presenting work as original that has been generated by an AI tool or programme. These evaluation activities will not be re-assessed.

USE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI): This subject entirely prohibits theuse of AI techonologies in all of its activities. Any submitted work that contains content generated using AI will be considered academic dishonesty; the corresponding task will be awarded a zero, without the possibility of reassessment. In cases of greater infringement, more serious action may be taken.

EXAMINATION DATES AND SUBMISSION DEADLINES: Requests to change examination dates or submission deadlines for personal reasons will not be granted unless they are illness related and a doctor's certificate can be provided; Erasmus and exchange students who cannot take an exam or submit an essay for justifiable reasons will need to submit to their teacher(s) written proof of the latter issued by their home university.   

 


Bibliography

 

COMPULSORY READING:

1.Americans at home:

 

Tennessee Williams, A Streetcar Named Desire  (1947) *

 

Arthur Miller, Death of a Salesman  (1949) *

 

John Cheever, “The Swimmer”  (1964)

 

Louise Glück, selections from The Seven Ages (2001)

 

 

 

2. Love, Loss and Loneliness:

 

Carson McCullers, The Ballad of the Sad Café  (1951)

 

James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room  (1956) *

 

Sylvia Plath, selections from Ariel (1965) and Winter Trees (1971)

 

Elizabeth Bishop, selections from Questions of Travel (1965) and Geography III (1976)

 

Grace Payley, “The Loudest Voice” (1959) and “Faith in the Afternoon” (1960)

 

Raymond Carver, “Intimacy” (1986)

 

 

 

3. Rewriting History:

 

Kurt Vonnegut, Slaughterhouse 5  (1969) *

 

Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye   (1970) *

 

Louise Erdrich, “Shamengwa”  (2002)   

IMPORTANT:

Students must buy the texts marked with an asterisc (*).  The rest of texts will be provided by the teacher.

 

Specialized bibliography for each work will be provided during the semester.

 

 

 

 


Software

Not applicable.


Groups and Languages

Please note that this information is provisional until 30 November 2025. You can check it through this link. To consult the language you will need to enter the CODE of the subject.

Name Group Language Semester Turn
(PAUL) Classroom practices 1 English second semester morning-mixed
(TE) Theory 1 English second semester morning-mixed