American literature plans
Okay, so I've been trying to get together a book list to turn in to the English department for my Fall 2007 American literature course. I started by making lists of organizing ideas I could use for the course (for example, in the past, I've used American Dreams, Slavery, and Violence as organizing principles). The idea that I decided to run with was this: Utopia, Dystopia, and Apocalypse.
This will allow to me to continue reading science fiction and have some overlap between my research and my teaching.
Here's the breakdown of the longer works I'll use for this semester. For Utopia, we'll read Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy. Woman on the Edge of Time is (apparently--I haven't read it yet) part utopian vision and part dystopian reality. For Dystopia, we'll read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (technically Canadian, but still North American, so that's good enough for me) and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. For Apocalypse, we'll watch Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. There will definitely be shorter works interspersed in all these sections, particularly the apocalypse section. And we will end the semester with Angels in America by Tony Kushner, which does not fit neatly into any of these categories but which does include elements of utopia, dystopia, and apocalypse.
I still have to decide what shorter works to use throughout the semester, so suggestions (if any occur to you) are welcome, but I think this overarching structure will work.
In the future, I'd also like to develop a special topics course on Apocalypse in American Literature. There's a lot of material there, both fictional and historical, and lots of different kinds of apocalypses to consider (environmental collapse, biological warfare, nuclear warfare, WWIII (frequently but not always included the previous category), religious, etc.
This will allow to me to continue reading science fiction and have some overlap between my research and my teaching.
Here's the breakdown of the longer works I'll use for this semester. For Utopia, we'll read Herland by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy. Woman on the Edge of Time is (apparently--I haven't read it yet) part utopian vision and part dystopian reality. For Dystopia, we'll read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood (technically Canadian, but still North American, so that's good enough for me) and Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. For Apocalypse, we'll watch Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove and read The Road by Cormac McCarthy. There will definitely be shorter works interspersed in all these sections, particularly the apocalypse section. And we will end the semester with Angels in America by Tony Kushner, which does not fit neatly into any of these categories but which does include elements of utopia, dystopia, and apocalypse.
I still have to decide what shorter works to use throughout the semester, so suggestions (if any occur to you) are welcome, but I think this overarching structure will work.
In the future, I'd also like to develop a special topics course on Apocalypse in American Literature. There's a lot of material there, both fictional and historical, and lots of different kinds of apocalypses to consider (environmental collapse, biological warfare, nuclear warfare, WWIII (frequently but not always included the previous category), religious, etc.