| Course title | Contemporary American Literature |
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| Course code | KAA/AML4 |
| Organizational form of instruction | Seminary |
| Level of course | Master |
| Year of study | not specified |
| Semester | Winter and summer |
| Number of ECTS credits | 4 |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Status of course | Compulsory-optional |
| Form of instruction | Face-to-face |
| Work placements | This is not an internship |
| Recommended optional programme components | None |
| Course availability | The course is available to visiting students |
| Lecturer(s) |
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| Course content |
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Course syllabus (and at the same time exam questions): Náplň kurzu (a zároveň okruhy ke zkoušce): 2025/26 1. Cultural Pluralism and Multiculturalism Reading: "The Right to Be Different" (Kallen summary) Josef Jařab, "Fusion or Fragmentation" Further reading: Horace M. Kallen, "Democracy Versus the Melting-Pot: A Study of American Nationality" Context: Sara Song, "Multiculturalism," https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/multiculturalism/ 2. Asian American Literature Jhumpa Lahiri, Bharati Mukherjee Reading: Jhumpa Lahiri, "The Interpreter of Maladies", in The Interpreter of Maladies Further Reading: Bharati Mukherjee, "The Management of Grief" (in The Middleman and Other Stories), Bharati Mukherjee, Jasmine 3. African American Literature Today - Female Writers Alice Walker, Terry McMillan, Dori Sanders Reading: Alice Walker, "Cuddling" Further Reading: Alice Walker, "Orelia and John" (both stories from The Way Forward Is with a Broken Heart) Recommended: Dori Sanders, Clover 4. Contemporary Jewish American Literature Philip Roth, Cynthia Ozick, Nathan Englander, Art Spiegelman Reading: Nathan Englander, "How We Avenged the Blums" Cynthia Ozick, "The Shawl" Further reading: Art Spiegelman, Maus 1 5. African American Literature Today - Male Writers James Alan McPherson, Ernest Gaines, Percival Everett, Randall Kenan, Edward P. Jones, Nathan Harris Reading: Percival Everett, "Appropriation of Cultures" Further Reading: Nathan Harris, The Sweetness of Water James A. McPherson, "A Loaf of Bread" Recommended: Ernest Gaines, A Gathering of Old Men 6. Native American Writers James Welch, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich, Sherman Alexie Reading: Louise Erdrich, "Fleur" Further Reading: Sherman Alexie, "The Search Engine" Recommended: Louise Erdrich, Tracks 7. Ending Postmodernism and After Paul Auster, Don DeLillo, Thomas Pynchon, Dave Eggers, David Foster Wallace, Reading: Dave Eggers, The Circle Further reading: Paul Auster, "City of Glass", in The New York Trilogy Don De Lillo: White Noise 8. American Short Story: Recent Developments Raymond Carver, Richard Ford, Tobias Wolff, Tim O'Brien, Bobby Ann Mason, Ron Rash Reading: Raymond Carver, "Cathedral," in Cathedral. Tobias Wolff, "The Bible" Further reading: Ron Rash, "Cherokee" Jařab, Josef. "Americká povídka posledního desetiletí", Světová literatura 34, no. 1 (1989): 2-8. 9. Literature of The New Lost Generation David Leavitt, Jay McInerney, Bret Easton Ellis, Tama Janowitz Reading: David Leavitt, "The New Lost Generation", Further Reading: David Leavitt, "Family Dancing" Recommended: Bret Easton Ellis, The American Psycho Tama Janowitz, The Slaves of New York (short stories) Jay McInerney, Bright Lights, Big City Literary context: Jařab, Josef, "The Stories of the New Lost Generation" (see Moodle AML4) 10. Contemporary American Drama Edward Albee, Beth Henley, Sam Shepard, David Mamet, Tony Kushner Reading: Edward Albee, The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Recommended: Sam Shepard, Buried Child 11. Literature of the US South and Southwest Cormac McCarthy, Ron Rash, Robert Morgan, Liza Alther, Larry Brown Reading: Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men Further Reading: Larry Brown, "Boy and Dog" 12. Poetry in Present-day America Post-beat poets, C. K. Williams, Nikki Giovanni, Yusef Komunyakaa, Fred Chappell, Natasha Trethewey Reading: Yusef Komunyakaa, selection of poems from Neon Vernacular Natasha Trethewey, Native Guard For each topic at the (state) exam, you should read at least 1 novel/drama, or 2 short stories/essays, or 10 poems You should be able to: categorize the writers, relate them to region and period decade, identify influences, know their masterpieces (at least two) and the main literary prizes and awards they received. https://lithub.com/american-women-masters-of-the-short-story/ .
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| Learning activities and teaching methods |
Lecture, Work with Text (with Book, Textbook)
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| Learning outcomes |
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The focus of the course is American literature since the 1980s; it covers all genres and major tendencies in fiction, poetry and drama. There is an emphasis on the representation of various regions and ethnic groups.
Students will cultivate their skills to apply various historical as well as contemporary methods of literary analysis to the study of specific texts. |
| Prerequisites |
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No special demands apart from a knowledge of basic literary terms and the ability to analyze a work of literature.
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| Assessment methods and criteria |
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Essay, Analysis of Creative works (Music, Pictorial,Literary)
- Active participation in the seminar is required, and up to two absences are tolerated. - At the end of the semester, students write a comparative essay (4 pages) with proper documentation (endnotes or footnotes) and Bibliography (Works Cited) section following the MLA or Chicago Manual of Style, 16th edition. Comparison of literary works by the same or another author of the same genre from the course program using secondary literature (literary theory and literary history to place them in a cultural-historical context - at least two academic sources). To be submitted in print. The essay can be submitted only twice; if failed, students have to repeat the course. - 4 short in-class tests testing student's knowledge of the assigned reading |
| Recommended literature |
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| Study plans that include the course |
| Faculty | Study plan (Version) | Category of Branch/Specialization | Recommended semester | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2020) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English for Translators and Interpreters (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English for Translators and Interpreters (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2019) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |
| Faculty: Faculty of Arts | Study plan (Version): English Philology (2024) | Category: Philological sciences | 1 | Recommended year of study:1, Recommended semester: - |