Time Schedule:
Katherine Cummings
ckate@u.washington.edu
ENGL 355
Seattle Campus
Works by such writers as Ellison, Williams, O'Connor, Lowell, Barth, Rich, and Hawkes.
Class Description
For SUMMER/AUTUMN 2003: Living on the Edge. This course will examine representations of international, domestic, and personal crisis in recent U.S. novels, short stories, nonfictional documents, film and popular media. We’ll begin with the cold ar emergence of the “national security state” and widespread policing of political and sexual dissidents. We’ll turn to the hot war in VietNam and draw connections between it and contemporary events. We’ll end with portraits of Americans whose life experiences, behavior or identity is at odds with the mainstream. Residing in locales where conformity to church dogma, middle-class standards, traditional family values, established gender roles, and/or sexual norms is strictly enforced, all defy convention. And all live on the edge.
Recommended preparation
Class Assignments and Grading
