Descripción y contextualización de la asignatura

The aim of the present course is the study of the uses of metaphors and images of place in American literature. The course will illustrate how writers have charged different environments with symbolic and psychological meaning. Particular attention will be paid to the interaction between place and identity over a wide range of works, principally contemporary western American literature.

Convocatoria ordinaria: orientaciones y renuncia

- Class participation: 50 %. This class aims for excellent discussion. Participation will be evaluated as follows: 5= excellent contributions to class discussions, 4= very good contibutions, 3 = good contributions, 2= respectful listening and occasional contributions, 1 = almost insignificant contributions.

Note: Those students unable to participate in the class discussion of the compulsory texts for a justified reason will be required to write individual reviews of these texts. Instructions for these reviews will be published on egela.

- Written essay: 50 %. Students are asked to sign up by February 12 for a seminar paper on one of the compulsory reading texts. The papers should be short (about 10 pages if they are individual papers) and should not be conceived as research papers. Instead, they should reflect their own thinking on the works they have read and be their own reaction and analysis. The papers will presented orally in the classes (see the dates for the required texts) and their written version should be handed in by April 25. Essays are meant to foster the students’ critical outlook, offering them an opportunity to develop a series of rewarding critical approaches to the different literary texts including in the syllabus. They are encouraged to develop a comparative approach, aiming toward an understanding of the guiding abstractions of different authors by identifying central themes and discerning their relevance in particular literary texts.



- RENUNCIA: Para dar cumplimiento al punto 2.3 de la Normativa de Permanencia en másteres de la UPV/EHU, la Comisión Académica del Máster en Literatura Comparada y Estudios Literarios solicita a los estudiantes que quieran renunciar a una convocatoria de una asignatura determinada que lo manifiesten por escrito.



Bastará para ello con enviar (con antelación suficiente a la calificación de la asignatura) un correo electrónico al profesor o profesora en el que se explicite que "D/Dª [nombre y dos apellidos del estudiante], RENUNCIA a la convocatoria X de la asignatura X del Máster en Literatura Comparada y Estudios Literarios de la UPV/EHU. Vitoria-Gasteiz, XX de XX de 20XX. Firmado: [nombre y dos apellidos del estudiante]".





El mensaje de correo electrónico deberá ser enviado inexcusablemente desde la cuenta oficial [@ikasle.ehu.eus] del estudiante a la cuenta oficial del profesor de la asignatura.

Convocatoria extraordinaria: orientaciones y renuncia

- Class participation: 50 %. This class aims for excellent discussion. Participation will be evaluated as follows: 5= excellent contributions to class discussions, 4= very good contibutions, 3 = good contributions, 2= respectful listening and occasional contributions, 1 = almost insignificant contributions.

Note: Those students unable to participate in the class discussion of the compulsory texts for a justified reason will be required to write individual reviews of these texts. Instructions for these reviews will be published on egela.

- Written essay: 50 %. Students are asked to sign up by February 12 for a seminar paper on one of the compulsory reading texts. The papers should be short (no longer than 10 pages) and should not be conceived as research papers. Instead, they should reflect their own thinking on the works they have read and be their own reaction and analysis.

Essays are meant to foster the students’ critical outlook, offering them an opportunity to develop a series of rewarding critical approaches to the different literary texts including in the syllabus. They are encouraged to develop a comparative approach, aiming toward an understanding of the guiding abstractions of different authors by identifying central themes and discerning their relevance in particular literary texts.



- RENUNCIA: Para dar cumplimiento al punto 2.3 de la Normativa de Permanencia en másteres de la UPV/EHU, la Comisión Académica del Máster en Literatura Comparada y Estudios Literarios solicita a los estudiantes que quieran renunciar a una convocatoria de una asignatura determinada que lo manifiesten por escrito.



Bastará para ello con enviar (con antelación suficiente a la calificación de la asignatura) un correo electrónico al profesor o profesora en el que se explicite que "D/Dª [nombre y dos apellidos del estudiante], RENUNCIA a la convocatoria X de la asignatura X del Máster en Literatura Comparada y Estudios Literarios de la UPV/EHU. Vitoria-Gasteiz, XX de XX de 20XX. Firmado: [nombre y dos apellidos del estudiante]".





El mensaje de correo electrónico deberá ser enviado inexcusablemente desde la cuenta oficial [@ikasle.ehu.eus] del estudiante a la cuenta oficial del profesor de la asignatura.

Temario

The course will consist of the following 8 sections:



1) Introduction: The Role of Place in American Literature

2) The Literature of the American West I

3) The Literature of the American West II

4) Modern Western Revisions I: Urban Writing

5) Modern Western Revisions II: Gender Issues and the Lost Frontier

6) Ethnic Expression in Contemporary Western American Literature I

7) Ethnic Expression in Contemporary Western American Literature II and the Lost Frontier

8) Class and the New Western Writing

Bibliografía

Materiales de uso obligatorio

REQUIRED TEXTS







1)



- Richard W. Etulain: "Beyond Conflict, Toward Complexity: New Views of the American West" (article)



- Melody Graulich: "Ain't the World Small, Though!: Constructing an International West" (article)







2)



- Hunter S. Thompson: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1971) / Miedo y asco en Las Vegas (an excerpt: chapters 1,2,3,4) .



- Barbara Kingsolver, The Bean Trees (1988) / Árboles de judías (an excerpt: chapters 1,2, 3)



3)



- Robert Laxalt: The Basque Hotel (1989) / The Basque Hotel: Nacido en América



4)



- Cormac McCarthy: All the Pretty Horses (1992)/Todos los hermosos caballos (an excerpt: section 1)



- Annie Proulx: “Brokeback Mountain” (1999)







5)



- Willy Vlautin: The Motel Life (2006)/ Vida de motel (an excerpt: until p.67)



- Claire Vaye Watkins: "Ghosts, Cowboys" (2009)



6)



- Louise Erdrich: Shadow Tag (2010) / El juego de la sombra (an excerpt: until p. 46)

Bibliografía básica

Bhabha, H.: The Location of Culture. London: Routledge, 1994,

Carter, E. et al.: Space and Place: Theories of Identity and Location. London: Routledge, 1993.

Conn, P.: Literatura norteamericana. Madrid: Cambridge UP, 1998 (1989).

Cresswell, T.: Place: A Short Introduction. Chichester: Willey, 2015.

Guerin, W. et al., eds.: A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature. New York: Oxford U. P., 1998 (4th. Ed).

Keith, M. & S. Pike: Place and the Politics of Identity. London: Routledge, 1993.

Lefevbre, H. The Production of Space. London: Blackwell, 1991.

Litz, W. A., ed.: Major American Short Stories. New York: OUP, 1994.

Millard, K. : Contemporary American Fiction. Oxford: Oxford U. P., 2000.

Nelson, E, ed. The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Multiethnic American Literature (5 vols.). Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 2005.

Rose, G.: Feminism and Geography: The Limits of Geographical Knowledge. London: Routledge, 1993.

Soja, E.: Postmodern Geographies. London: Verso, 1989.

Tuan, Y-F.: Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. London: Arnold, 1977.

Revistas

- American Literature



- American Literary History



- American Studies International



- Atlantis



- ES: Revista de Filología Inglesa



- Feminist Review



- Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses



- Revista de Estudios Norteamericanos



- The International Fiction Review



- The New Yorker



- Western American Literature

Enlaces

- American Literature: Twentieth Century Texts and Resources (University of Virginia): http://www.xroads.virginia.edu



- Norton Websource to American Literature: http://www.norton.com/naal/



- Outline of American Literature: http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/oal/oaltoc.htm



- PAL: Perspectives in American Literature- A Research and Reference Guide: http://www.csustan.edu/english/reuben/pal/TABLE.HTML



- REWEST (Research in Western Literature): http://www.ehu.es/en/web/rewest/home



- Voices of the Shuttle: WebPage for Humanities Research (American Literature): http://humanitas.ucsb.edu/shuttle/english.html