Image, Identity And Reality in North American Literature
Code
722121050
Academic unit
Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas
Department
Línguas, Culturas e Literaturas Modernas, Secção de Estudos Ingleses e Norte-Americanos
Credits
10
Teacher in charge
Isabel Oliveira Martins
Weekly hours
3 letivas + 1 tutorial
Teaching language
Português e Inglês
Objectives
a) To develop specific competences regarding North American Literature, namely: communication skills, capacity for critical and interpretative analysis, and be able to contextualize the works under scrutiny.
b) To enhance and expand both the acquisition of knowledge and constructive thinking about the authors and their works.
c) To be able to critically assess the selected literary texts and films.
d) To be able to critically assess the main bibliography as well as producing autonomous research
e) To develop the competence required to make two presentations: one oral on one or more literary texts and/or films and another on one (oral and written) on one of the texts from the complementary bibliography
f) To develop the competence required to write a final critical essay concerning one or more items from the syllabus.
Prerequisites
Degree or equivalent
Subject matter
The Representation of the West in Contemporary American Literature or 1000 Ways to Die in the West
In this seminar we aim to (re)visit the representation of the American West in contemporary North American literature, particularly since the end of the Second World War up to the present. We will study the development of a mythical image of the West as well as its deconstruction, particularly under the influence of New Western History, which will include: the backgrounds (mainly the second half of the 19th century but also the beginning of the 20th century); Imagined West(s); The importance and meaning of the \"open\" land and Americas sense of itself as well as of the West; Myth/Image versus Reality (physical and human); Male and female role models, particularly the cowboy archetype; The opposition between West and East; and finally the role of Hollywood Westerns in the (re)building of the myth.
Bibliography
McVeigh, Stephen. 2007. The American Western, Edinburgh, Edinburgh University Press.
Deverell, William (Ed.). 2004. A Companion to the American West. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
Milner, Clyde A. (Ed.). 1996. A New Significance: Re-Envisioning the History of the American West. New York: Oxford University Press.
Slotkin, Richard. 1992. Gunfighter Nation: The Myth of the Frontier in Twentieth-Century America, New York: Harper Perennial.
Bruce, C. (ed.). 1990. Myth of the West, New York: Rizzoli.
Limerick, Patricia Nelson. 1987. The Legacy of Conquest. the Unbroken Past of the American Western, New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Robertson, J.O. 1980. American Myth, American Reality, New York: Hill and Wang.
Teaching method
Presentation of the various topics by the lecturer accompanied by the students´ reading and discussion of a selection of texts (literary, teoretical or/and film) covering the topics outlined in the syllabus;
Tutorial supervision of the research work related to the final paper chosen by the student.
Evaluation method
Oral presentation on one or more literary work and film (20%); oral and written presentation on one of the theoretical texts (20%); final written essay (60%)