ENGL 357 - Inventing America: Histories of the Book, Archive, and Empire

Semester Offered: Second Semester
Full Course
Credits: 4 credits
Attribute: 4HU, CD, WINT

What is America? Where is it? And how did it come into being? This class examines the literary and discursive ‘invention’ of America ‘as a place, a discourse, and an episteme’ from roughly the seventeenth-century through the present. We will explore the relationships among print cultures, archives, and power in the making of American empire. Readings will focus on both historical and contemporary novellas, poems, plays, short stories, and graphic novels that ‘rewrite,’ ‘decolonize,’ and ‘reimagine’ American spaces, histories, and literatures. Authors may include Catalina de Erauso, Kyle Baker, Leslie Marmon Silko, Michelle Cliff, Toni Morrison, and M. NourbeSe Philip.

Enrollment Limit: 20
Instructor: D. Skeehan

Prerequisites & Notes: ENGL 299 or two 200-level courses or consent of instructor.
This course may also count for the major in (consult the program or department major requirements) :
Comparative American Studies