EL 132 | American Immigrant Literature
(Spring 2020)
Find e-Texts
- Project Gutenberg
- Open Library (by the Internet Archive)
- "Read Print" Online Books and Texts
- U VA American Hypertexts
- ManyBooks.net
General Am Lit Links
- Reuben's Perspectives in Am Lit
- Campbell's American Authors Site
- The Poetry Foundation
- American Masters Series (PBS)
- American Literature (Online Texts)
- American Passages (Annenberg)
- Voices and Visions (Annenberg)
- Voices from the Gaps (U of MN)
- Ginsberg's Am Lit 1865ff Links
- Am Studies at U of VA
- Hyper-concordance
From the journal writing of the earliest European explorers to the present, the immigrant experience has been a part of American literature. Our exploration of American immigrant writing will take us from the story of Alavar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca—marooned in (believe it or not) Texas—to stories of immigrants in early-twentieth-century New York City to more contemporary writers and stories. We will look at the ways characters in stories, poems, and plays navigate the often difficult terrain between the faith, family, and community traditions with which they (or their parents) arrive and the new cultural possibilities they discover as they make new lives, imagine new possibilities, and join (or reject) new communities in the US.
This is also a class about reading well. We will read a wide variety of literary works (including prose, poetry, and drama), consider how and why they were written as they were written, and work to become sharper, more appreciative readers of all the writing (informal and formal, creative and not-so-creative) that we encounter. In our class sessions, we’ll discuss—together—what we’re reading and what sorts of strategies can be used to understand and appreciate it. We’ll also consider, as we go, the practical importance of reading well. In your writing for this course, you’ll be putting what you learn into practice by producing short, focused, analytical readings of prose, poetry, and drama. The course may be used to fulfill either the Humanities or the American Diversity general education requirement.
Assignments/Scores to Anticipate
- Midterm and Final, Each Including Essay Portions
- Pop Quizzes (If There's a Reading, There Might Be a Quiz)
- Personal Ethnography
- Poetry Essay (Close Critical Reading)
- Fiction Essay (Close Critical Reading)
- Drama Essay (Close Critical Reading)
- Laurie Lamon Reading, Wednesday 4/1, 6:00 @the Chapel
- An Evening Screening of In Time of War
- An Evening Screening of Far and Away
A Course Participation Score
You Should Always Have the Readings in Front of You in Class
-
If you're using an ebook or other electronic file for some of our
readings, please make sure it is accessible to you in class, somehow,
for reference. That means having some kind of suitable screen to display
it on, or printing out the readings. Cell phone screens are not big
enough.