Aims

Students will be expected to show their ability to relate the set texts to the historical and literary contexts explored in the module. They will have to produce an analysis that confirms their familiarity with the issues raised by the module, and with the poetics through which those issues are articulated.
The module is also indirectly meant to increase the students' lexical skills. Their analyses will therefore have to reflect a command of the English language that corresponds to their level (3rd or 4th year), as well as a good grasp of the various cultural concepts discussed in the module.

Main themes

A different period will be studied each year. The choice is between :
1. The Elizabethan period
2. The Restoration
3. The Victorian period
4. The Interwar period
5. Post-1945

Each period will be studied in its political, economic, social, scientific and cultural aspects. There will also be an overview of the period's literature. The module will then focus on in-depth analyses of key works that are particularly representative of a specific genre.

Method : lectures and seminars

Content and teaching methods

Ethnic literatures of the United States

We will study short fiction by American authors who identify themselves as minorities and/or depict the minority experience, including Willa Cather, African-Americans such as Ralph Ellison and Alice Walker, Native Americans Leslie Marmon Silko and Sherman Alexie, Jr., Jewish Americans Abraham Cahan and Philip Roth, and the Louisiana Creole Kate Chopin. Among other things, we will consider how the writers express their own and their characters' dual identities as Americans and as members of their group. How do they deal with discrimination, prejudice, and misunderstanding on the part of the dominant culture? Do they attempt to assimilate or to retain their own culture? How do they use their own dialect or language, and how do they adapt their written and oral traditions to English prose fiction? How does ethnic identity interact with class, economic condition, and gender?

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Prerequisites : GERM 1226, GERM 1225 or equivalent modules (introductions to English literature). The set texts (ca. 4 books) should be read before each seminar.

Assessment: an oral exam and an essay.


Study aids : a booklet is handed out to the students at the first lecture. It includes a list of set texts, details about the organisation of the module, a selection of excerpts, a list of questions and a bibliography.

Others : students are invited to take an active part in the module.

Programmes in which this activity is taught

Other credits in programs