EL40BT: THE GILDED AGE: AMERICAN LITERATURE 1865-1929 (2019-2020)

Last modified: 25 Sep 2019 09:58

Course Overview

The Gilded Age was a time of glamour, hardship, renewal and corruption in American society. This fourth-year course looks at the literature of this formative period in the history of the United States, between the Civil War in the 1860s and the Great Depression in the 1920s. It explores how the writers of this period helped to shape, but also at times resisted the formation of a modern American identity.

Course Details

Study Type	Undergraduate	Level	4
Term	First Term	Credit Points	30 credits (15 ECTS credits)
Campus	Aberdeen	Sustained Study	No
Co-ordinators	Dr Hazel Hutchison

What courses & programmes must have been taken before this course?

Any Undergraduate Programme (Studied)
Programme Level 4
English (EL)

What other courses must be taken with this course?

None.

What courses cannot be taken with this course?

None.

Are there a limited number of places available?

Course Description

The late nineteenth century brought industrialisation and a new sophistication into American culture. This course focuses on American writing at this time of astonishing social and intellectual change. Covering the historical period from the end of the Civil War in 1865 to the Wall Street Crash of 1929, this course explores issues such as innocence and decadence, the urban environment, the First World War, and the changing place of women in society. This course aims to examine the response of writers to these issues, and the new forms of literature which they developed in an increasingly modern age. Authors to be studied include Henry James, Edith Wharton, Theodore Dreiser, F Scott Fitzgerald, Willa Cather and E. E. Cummings.

Contact Teaching Time

Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.

Teaching Breakdown

More Information about Week Numbers

Details, including assessments, may be subject to change until 30 August 2024 for 1st term courses and 20 December 2024 for 2nd term courses.

Summative Assessments

There are no assessments for this course.

Formative Assessment