American Literary Naturalism: Form and Economics at the Fin de Siècle

Catalog description

American naturalism was the first literary movement to consciously grapple with the cultural, political, and economic significance of the transition from a free market system to corporate capitalism. This course explores how naturalist fiction around the turn of the twentieth century responded to and shaped the organization of the economy in ways that remain highly relevant today. By placing economic forms in their cultural contexts and cultural forms in their economic contexts, students will develop tools for understanding the relationship between culture and changing forms of economic organization from the industrial corporation to financial markets.