US Literature since 1960

Though our focus will be on more recent literature of the United States, we will explore contemporary literature historically. That is to say, we will investigate literary trends over the past 40 years in order to help us define what is and is not unique to our historical moment, so that we may become more effective actors within it. Reading contemporary literature historically involves examining how particular American writers responded to and participated in socio-cultural phenomena during the last half century. To this end, we will consider how the mass consumer society enabled by postwar Keynesian economics, the social upheavals of the 1960s, the demographic shifts following the 1965 Immigration Reform Act, and 9/11 are all linked to issues of postmodernity, globalization, and identity within literary works. Authors will likely include Alice Walker, Gish Jen, David Sedaris, Don Delillo, Toni Morrison, Alan Gurganus, E.L. Doctorow, and Sandra Cisneros.MCP, REA. WRI