This course offers a rapid introduction to the key figures and movements of American literature from 1900 to the present. The key questions that we will ask concern the ways that we might categorize the large and heterogeneous output of American literary artists during this period. We will examine the ways that American Modernist poets and novelists position themselves within regional, national, and international cultures. We will examine the strategies by which post-World War II American artists depart from the forms, themes, and styles of their literary ancestors. We will explore relationship between literature and cultural studies through discussions of race, class, gender, and sexuality. Finally, we will examine emergent genres that may shape the future directions of American literature.
Raymond Malewitz
Assistant Professor of English
Oregon State University
Moreland 340
2550 SW Jefferson Way
Corvallis,
OR
97331 USA
Tel:
541-737-1656
Email contact form
Credentials
- Ph.D. English - University of Virginia, 2007
- B.S. English and Biochemistry - University of Michigan, 1999
Research
Raymond Malewitz teaches literature and science, environmental literature, and American literature of the 20th and 21st centuries. His current book project examines the ways that real and imagined “maker” communities—environmental advocates, shade-tree engineers, post-apocalyptic survivalists, and so on—reinvent the myth of American rugged individualism through creative acts of object repurposing. He is also at work on an essay that examines how photorealism and digital realism generate different forms of sexual and political desire. His essays on Cormac McCarthy, William Gibson, Gwendolyn Brooks, and material culture have been published (or are forthcoming) in journals such as PMLA, Contemporary Literature, Configurations, and Callaloo. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia in English Literature (2007) and a B.S. in English Literature and Biochemistry from the University of Michigan.
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Course Information
This course will examine a stylistically and conceptually diverse group of American novels and short stories written after World War II. The key questions that we will ask concern the relationship between these texts and the broader cultural movement called postmodernism. We will examine the ways that American postmodernists depict central events taking place in the United States such as the rise of new media forms, the emergence of Cold War politics, and the disruptions of a globalized economy. We will explore the complex and competitive relationship between literature and other forms of art such as American rock and roll and television. Finally, we will investigate the ways that postmodern ideas concerning communication technologies, race, and language enter the literary sphere by pairing critical and creative readings.
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