American Literature: Foundations

This course may function as an independent semester credit or as the first half of a yearlong American Literature sequence. In American Literature: Foundations, students will wrestle with fundamental questions of life in the United States: What is the American Dream and how does it relate to American reality? Who is an insider and who is an outsider? How do race, gender, culture, history, language, class and religion influence identity and experience? In dialogue with classic and contemporary works of American literature — and with each other — students will learn to understand and honor a range of perspectives on these questions. They will also be encouraged to develop and sharpen their own viewpoints. Authors may include Tommy Orange, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joy Harjo, James Baldwin and Frederick Douglass, among others. American Literature: Foundations is designed to complement subjects and themes encountered in United States History.