L.ENG 251 - Literature of the Frontier & American West-EC

Credits: 3

Students will focus on and discuss the aesthetic and cultural significance of the literature of discovery, conflict, adventure, and travel in the land west of the Mississippi River. They will examine the relationships between nonfiction (i.e., personal narratives, newspaper writing, diaries, letters, and travel logs) and fiction (short stories, myths and legends, oral narratives, and novels). Students will also explore the ways in which genre, environment, language and bilingualism, gender, race, ethnicity, religion, and personal politics all shape, reflect, and restrict artistic expression during the 18th, 19th, and early 20th centuries. Representative authors: Bret Hart, Mark Twain, Willa Cather, Ambrose Bierce, Mary Hunter Austin, Stephen Crane, Zane Grey, Frank Norris, Hamlin Garland, Zitkala-Sa, Kate Chopin, and Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Prerequisite: None
Co-requisite: None
General Education Classification: Creativity, Aesthetics, & Design-EC