AMST 40222 - Class, Labor, and Narrative

Institution:

University of Notre Dame

Subject:

American Studies

Description:

An exploration of short stories and novels depicting the "working stiff" in the U.S. from 1920 to the present. Our reading list will include many of the usual suspects (James Farrell, John Steinbeck, Richard Wright, Nora Zeale Hurston, William Saroyan, Langston Hughes, Grace Paley, Tillie Olsen, and Raymond Carver); writers not usually associated with labor (Jean Toomer, Gertrude Stein, and Donald Barthelme); and contemporary writers (Sherman Alexie, Sandra Cisneros, Aleksandar Hemon, Edwidge Danticat, Juno Díaz, Gish Jen, and George Saunders). We'll question the representation of labor, laborers, and class differences, and we'll also pose aesthetic questions: What narrative forms most provocatively explore particular kinds of work? What work do experimental texts perform that more conventional narratives cannot (and vice versa)? Many of thetheorists we'll rely on for insights about workers, class, and writing (Tillie Olsen, James Agee, and Barbara Ehrenreich) make good use of narrative themselves, and will help us contemplate how writing about labor can also reflect the labor of writing. Short response papers, group presentation, midterm, and a final project.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.nd.edu

Phone Number:

(574) 631-5000

Regional Accreditation:

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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