Proseminar: American Literature in Times of Crisis

obligatory courses
proseminars

Classroom

Broad in scope, this seminar explores how American literature has been responding to various crises across history. It emphasizes the role of American authors as cultural critics and innovators, who engage the subjects of war and pandemic, environmental crisis, racial and social injustice, or migration and border crisis. This is a practice-oriented seminar, which fosters interdisciplinary thinking and equips students with both research and argumentation skills essential for writing a strong B.A. thesis.

Broad in scope, this seminar explores how American literature has been responding to various crises across history. It emphasizes the role of American authors as cultural critics and innovators, who engage the subjects of war and pandemic, environmental crisis, racial and social injustice, or migration and border crisis. While exploring the intricate connections between literature, history, and society, we will address the following questions: What are the functions of literature in times of crises? What are the connections between crisis, socio-cultural change, and literary experimentation? How do responses to crises vary across fiction, poetry, documentary and reportage, or graphic novels? What new modes of thinking and expression have been emerging out of the moments of crisis? This is a practice-oriented seminar, which fosters interdisciplinary thinking and equips students with both research and argumentation skills essential for writing a strong B.A. thesis.

Selected practical questions:

- How to select primary and secondary sources and prepare a bibliography?.

- What is the relationship between close reading and critical writing?

- How to choose and narrow down the topic?

- How to develop a strong thesis statement?

- How to engage literary theories and cultural studies methods during writing process?

The final reading list will be discussed with seminar participants and reflect their specific research interests across literary and cultural studies.

Some of the reference books for practical skills include:

- Stephen Bailey, Academic Writing for International Students

- Wayne Booth, The Craft of Research

- Michael Harvey, The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing

- Judith Nadell et. al. The Longman Writer: Rhetoric and Reader

- The Purdue Writing Lab, https://owl.purdue.edu

Knowledge:

Student:

- knows how to plan the writing process of chapters and select a suitable topic for a bachelor's thesis;

- is familiar with academic writing conventions and bibliography formatting;

- knows how to utilize source materials in their work;

- understands how to avoid plagiarism and comprehends the standards of academic integrity;

- understands the significance of American literature in a broader historical and socio-cultural context.

Skills:

Student:

- can critically analyze literary texts and cultural texts;

- can narrow down the topic of their bachelor's thesis;

- can formulate and develop a thesis and maintain coherent argumentation;

- can prepare an outline of the thesis and a bibliography;

- can prepare written reports in English;

- participates, under the supervision of a supervisor, in the preparation of research projects related to the USA.

Social Competencies:

Student:

- can work in a group and discuss complex and often controversial socio-cultural topics with respect for the opinions of other students.

Active participation: 35%

Online assignments: 20%

Tentative outline: 30%

Annotated bibliography: 15%

Grading scale:

0-60 – 2

60-70 – 3

71-75 – 3,5

76-85 – 4

86-90 – 4,5

91-95 – 5

96-100 – 5!