32201
Vertiefungsseminar
The Real Thing: American Literary Naturalism
James Dorson
Kommentar
This class examines the rise of naturalist literature in the U.S. in response to three seminal transformations of American culture and society around the turn of the twentieth century: 1) a new conception of nature following Darwin’s theory of natural selection; 2) the rapid growth of major urban centers like Chicago and New York City; and 3) changing gender relations with the rise of the New Woman. Naturalist fiction was the first body of literature to give these epochal developments cultural expression. At the same time, naturalist writers used the topics of evolution, the city, and female emancipation to distinguish their own fiction from literary realism and to challenge the very conception of reality itself. Through close readings of naturalist texts, we will examine how the natural world, the vast city, and the New Woman all became figures of “the Real” in naturalist fiction, leading to new forms of representation that would transform the literary landscape at the fin de siècle. Organized around the themes of nature, the urban experience, and gender, we will read literary criticism alongside stories, excerpts, and novels by Frank Norris, Kate Chopin, Stephen Crane, Edith Wharton, Theodore Dreiser, Jack London, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman. Schließen
14 Termine
Regelmäßige Termine der Lehrveranstaltung
Mi, 16.04.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 23.04.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 30.04.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 07.05.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 14.05.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 21.05.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 28.05.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 04.06.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 11.06.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 18.06.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 25.06.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 02.07.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 09.07.2025 10:00 - 12:00
Mi, 16.07.2025 10:00 - 12:00