The antebellum South has played a central role in America´s national imagination – The original sin of slavery and an idealized image of the glorious antebellum style of plantation life, has also been a source of inspiration for many writers and filmmakers.
In this course we will recapitulate the historical development before and after the American Civil War by examining novels, short stories and films, which deal with the regional label of the South. Furthermore we will analyze how the past has shaped the present of many Southerners In addition we will take a close look at gender roles and gender relations within the southern plantation household and struggle of gender identities in the postbellum southern society.
Among the writers we will cover are William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams, Mark Twain, Flannery O`Connor and Kate Chopin.
There will be a reader available at the copy shop Reckhammerweg after the first session. |
