English 260 - Winter, 2014

American Literature: Civil War to 1914

Class Information

Instructor: Hsu, Hsuan L.
CRN: 84149
Time: T 3:10-6:00
Location: 120 Voorhies
Breadth: Later American
Focus: Genre, Method

Description

realism and race
This course considers how American realist and naturalist fiction reckoned with the shifting dynamics of race and ethnicity precipitated by Emancipation, intensified immigration, Chinese Exclusion, federal efforts to assimilate Native Americans, and early experiments with overseas imperialism. Among the questions we will discuss are: How did Realism’s interests in everyday life, empiricism, and social conflict intersect with the era’s violent dynamics of racialization and imperialism? How did writers compare disparate racialized and imperial populations with each other, as well as with other subordinated groups such as women and the working class? How did authors adapt realist techniques—as well as antirealist modes such allegory, romance, and sentimentalism—to critique racist laws and customs? We will contextualize the work of fiction writers such as Charles Chesnutt, Sui Sin Far, Stephen Crane, and Pauline Hopkins by drawing on readings in the fields of law, history, and comparative ethnic studies.