1 Anca Peiu,Ph D, Associate Professor 20th Century American Literature, 3rd Year English Minor –Spring Term 2021 COURSE DESCRIPTION This course offers a survey of 20thCentury American literature, i.e. an early 21 st century rereading of the greatest American literary works of the last century, form the double viewpoint of the specific literary techniques and the historical context thus represented. The dominant cultural and literary trends identified here will be: modernism, postmodernism, with all the echoes of naturalism and aestheticism inherited from the 19 th century American literary tradition. Realist techniques still alive in parallel with the experiments of the avant-garde fiction and reviving in postmodernism will be approached in a selection of the best representative books of the 20th century American art of the novel and short-story. The course also includes an introduction to the main American heritage of last century’s drama and poetry. The selection of writers and literary works studied here may vary from year to year. Requirements: Students are required to take active part in both lecture and seminar. They are expected to read the bibliography thoroughly and prove to be well acquainted with it. Assessment: Seminar activity grade (attendance, essay, debate) 50%; final written exam 50% Plagiarism absolutely disqualifies anyone. If re-examination is needed, please note that the seminar grades will stay valid. Therefore any attempt at plagiarism in the seminar work will annul students’ chances to sit the final exam. Plan of Lectures: Weeks 1 –2: A) The Lost Generation –Masters and Disciples: a)Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound; T. S. Eliot b)Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald B) Modern American Poets with a Double Professional Status:
