Röder, Katharina

The course explores representative 20th- and 21st-century American fiction, poems, and plays. Taught in seminar format and based on reading, discussion, and active participation, it studies literary texts in their respective historical and cultural contexts as well as from the perspective of current scholarly debates in the field. Exploring movements and concepts such as realism, modernism, postmodernism, and cultural pluralism and reformatory impulses, the course deepens students’ knowledge and research skills with regard to American literary history, cultural and literary concepts. Students are expected to read and actively prepare the assigned texts.  
Course requirement: oral presentation,incl. presentation handout and/or PowerPoint presentation.   
Credit requirement: an 8- to 10-page (3,500 to 4,500-word) research paper in English.  
Required texts: Baym, Nina, et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vols. C, D, and E. New York: Norton, 2012. Print. Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. Penguin, 2000. (Penguin Modern Classics, ISBN-13: 978-0141182636). Print. Additional required texts will be announced in the first course session. 

The course examines selected examples of American literature from pre-Columbian Native American documents through nineteenth-century literary writing. Taught in seminar format and based on reading, discussion, and active participation, the course places literary texts in their historical and cultural contexts. Readings include early exploration narratives and selected texts from colonial America, samples of nineteenth-century short fiction, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter, and selected poems by prominent authors, such as Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson. Students are expected to read and actively prepare the assigned texts.

Course requirement: oral presentation, incl. presentation handout and/or PowerPoint presentation. 
Credit requirement: an 8- to 10-page (3,500 to 4,500-word) research paper in English.
Required text: Baym, Nina et al., eds. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Vols. A, B, and C. New York: Norton, 2012. Print. Additional required texts will be announced in the first session.