ENGL 4521

Gender, Memory, and History in Twentieth Century Fiction

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2023-2024.

This seminar will investigate the narrative uses of history and memory in US fiction, focusing particularly on the impact of gender on these representations. How do US writers use history in their fiction, and to what ends? What are the effects on drawing on received historical narratives? What challenges does the attempt to represent a historical event pose for a writer of fiction and how might the author negotiate those challenges? Is History a gendered category and, if so, would "male" and "female" and "trans" histories be narrated differently? We will look at the effects of constructing one's own history to fill a void in the received historical narrative, exploring the relationship between history (or History) and memory as well as the fictional representations of that relationship.

When Offered Fall.

Distribution Category (ALC-AS, LA-AS)
Satisfies Requirement This course counts toward the post-1800 and Literatures of the Americas requirements for English majors.

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