This seminar will explore one the most prominent features of U.S. American national identity and culture - the American Dream. Reading and Reviewing material from various literary periods and epochs, this seminar will provide an overview of the origins of the American Dream and its continuing transformation into a major cultural and political presence in the United States of America. Analyzing material taken from poetry, short-stories, historical documents, novels, music, political speeches, and drama students are asked to determine general features of the American Dream as well as individual interpretations of it. Short introductory lectures on the various aspects of the American Dream will provide the necessary background information for the texts at hand.
Course Readings:
A reader containing relevant texts for our class discussions will be made available at the Shug & Real Copyshop Reckhammer Weg 2 in Essen before the first class meeting.
Jim Cullen. The American Dream: A Short History of an Idead that Shaped a Nation. Oxford University Press, 2004. ISBN: 978-0195173252
Hunter S. Thompson. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey into the Heart of the American Dream. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2005. ISBN: 978-0007204496 |
