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Introduction to contemporary American society from a multidisciplinary perspective; in-depth knowledge and understanding of the ways in which social, cultural, and political issues of the past 50 years figure in a selection of key American literary texts; ability to select and analyze relevant primary and secondary sources and to produce original scholarly work on the topic of the course.
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The bright future promised by John F. Kennedy’s election to the U.S. presidency in 1961 turned to bitter disillusionment just two years later with his assassination on November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas. The murder of the young president who had embodied the youthful spirit of renewal that had gripped the American people in the early 1960s ushered in a decade of political unrest and social turmoil that in many ways can be said to have set the stage for heated public debate in the U.S. for decades to come. This course will highlight three contentious issues that have preoccupied Americans over the last fifty years and that in important ways can be said to have emerged as key concerns in American literature and culture during the 1960s. Through readings in American literature complemented by weekly movie viewings students will explore the implications of the proliferation of mass culture and mass media, the social and cultural dimensions of technological advancement, and the issues of gender, race, and ethnicity.
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