ENG 561JCultures of the Cold War

Catalog

ENG 561J Cultures of the Cold War - This course focuses on U.S. literature and culture after WWII, especially from the period of 1945-1960. As the title suggests, the course situates the various works within the domestic and global political context of the period: the early Cold War. We address an array of theoretical, formal and historical themes: Race and the emerging civil rights movement; containment; McCarthyism; crises in masculinity and femininity; youth culture. We also pay attention to situating U.S. culture in an international frame, emphasizing the relationship between the various literary and cultural expressions to the nation's ascension as a global power and to U.S. imperialism in the era of decolonization in the 'Third World.' A subtheme will be to consider the dreams of a different world that appear in texts written by various (racial, political, and sexual) 'outsiders' excluded from normative national life during the Cold War, and the challenges these offer to 'America' as a culture and global power after World War II. In addition to engaging with a variety of cultural forms, such as novels, poetry, essays, and films, the course will be supplemented by theoretical and historical texts. Writers and artists may include among the following: Richard Wright, Ann Petry, William Burroughs, Amira Baraka, Jack Kerouac, Charlie Parker, Sylvia Plath, James Baldwin, Alan Ginsberg, Gwendolyn Brooks