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Literature and Theatre

California Dreaming

Course Times & Enrolment

This course is currently unavailable.

Course Summary

From Hollywood to Mexico’s border, Gold Rush to Rodney King riots, California has inspired great writers. Their poems, stories, and plays record new beginnings and harsh disappointments, immigrants’ journeys and counterculture experiments. We will read works by Allen Ginsberg, Maxine Hong Kingston, U.S. Poet Laureate Juan Felipe Herrera, and many others.

Course Details

Pre-requisites for enrolment

No prior knowledge assumed.

Content of Course

1. Myths, legends, and dreams - California in popular imagination.

2. Gold Rush: Bret Harte, stories, and Dame Shirley, extracts from letters.

3. Environment: selections from Mary Austin, The Land of Little Rain.

4. Hollywood and the Depression: Nathanael West, The Day of the Locust.

5. The Beats: Ginsberg, Howl.

6. Postmodernity: Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49.

7. San Francisco Renaissance: poems by Bob Kaufman and Jack Spicer.

8. Asian America: Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior.

9. Race and justice: Anna Deveare Smith, Twilight: Los Angles 1992.

10. Latino/a poetry: Lorna Dee Cervantes and Juan Felipe Herrera.

Teaching method(s)

Lecture by tutor followed by class discussion. .

Learning outcomes

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

  • Demonstrate understanding of the literature of California in its historical and cultural contexts;

  • Discuss confidently works in a range of genres (poetry, fiction, plays, non-fiction) through close reading and historically informed analysis;

  • Analyse and evaluate literary texts by sourcing and utilizing secondary reading.

Sources

Core Readings

Essential:

  • Ginsberg, A., 1986. Howl and Other Poems (Pocket Poets). San Francisco CA: City Lights.

  • Kingston, M. H., 2015. The Woman Warrior. London: Picador.

  • Pynchon, T., 1996. The Crying of Lot 49. London: Vintage Classics.

  • Smith, A. D., 2003. Twilight, Los Angeles, 1992. New York: Dramatist’s Play Service.

  • West, N., 2012. The Day of the Locust and Miss Lonelyhearts. London: Vintage Classics.

Recommended:

  • Hicks, J., Houston, J.D., Kingston, M.H. and Young, A., eds., 2000. The Literature of California, Volume 1: Native American Beginnings to 1945. Oakland CA: University of California Press.

  • Allmendinger, B., 2015. A History of California Literature. Cambridge: CUP

  • Cervantes, L. D., 1981. Emplumada. Pittsburgh PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.

  • Herrera, J. F., 2008. Half of the World in Light: New and Selected Poems. Tucson AZ: University of Arizona Press.

  • Kaufman, B., 1986. Cranial Guitar: Selected Poems. Minneapolis MN: Coffee House Press.

  • Gizzi, P. and Killian, K. eds., 2010. My Vocabulary Did This to Me: The Collected Poetry of Jack Spicer. Middletown CT: Wesleyan Press.

Class Handouts

Handouts with selections from texts and background information will be provided on a weekly basis.

Queries

If you have questions regarding the course or enrolment, please contact COL Reception at Paterson's Land by email or by phone 0131 650 4400.

Student support

If you have a disability, learning difficulty or health condition which may affect your studies, please let us know by ticking the 'specific support needs' box on your course application form. This will allow us to make appropriate adjustments in advance and in accordance with your rights under the Equality Act 2010. For more information please visit the Student Support section of our website.