2017 - 2018

0626-3808-01
  New York and the African American Literary Imagination                                               
FACULTY OF HUMANITIES
Sonia WeinerWebb - School of Languages501Sun1400-1600 Sem  1
Webb - School of Languages501Wed1400-1600 Sem  1
 
 
University credit hours:  4.0

Course description

New York and the African American Literary Imagination

 

Many African American novels take place in New York City, and have been written by authors who have lived within the metropolis. A hub of African American culture from the early twentieth century onward, New York serves more than a backdrop for these narratives. This seminar will explore ways in which cityscapes (spaces, places, and cultures) inform the novels and shape their meanings: ideologically, conceptually, and metaphorically.

 

Tentative Texts: Claude McKay – Home to Harlem (1928); Nella Larsen – Passing (1929); Ann Petry – The Street (1946); Ralph Ellison – Invisible Man (1952); James Baldwin – Go Tell it on the Mountain (1953); Claude Brown – Manchild in the Promised Land (1965); Trey Ellis – Platitudes (1988); Gloria Naylor – The Women of Brewster Place (1989); Toni Morrison – Jazz (1992); Coleson Whitehead – Zone One (2011)

 

Requirements: Active Participation, Preparation of Study Questions, In-Class Presentation, Seminar Paper.

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