ENGL 577: Major Literary Themes: Coming of Age in Southern Spaces
Professor: Dr. Julia Eichelberger
Location: College of Charleston
Time: Thursday 5:30 – 8:15
Modality: Face-to-Face
Since 1900, numerous authors have represented transitions from childhood to adulthood in the U. S. South. This course will explore the experiences of Southern children and young people from different eras, social identities, and communities. In contemplating the opportunities and dangers confronting individuals during this transition, we will explore the ways they interact with their families, their cultures, their histories, and their natural and human-made environments.
Authors will include Eudora Welty, William Faulkner, Richard Wright, Yusef Komunyakaa, Flannery O’Connor, Dorothy Alison, and Jesmyn Ward. In addition, selections from work by Nikky Finney, Peter Taylor, Drew Lanham, Natasha Trethewey, Katherine Anne Porter, Harlan Greene, may be included, as well as drama, film, and television, depending on the interests of seminar members.
All students will participate in seminar-style discussion of the assigned texts and of their own research and writing. For the final project, students’ independent research will inform either a critical analysis or an artist’s statement and a creative project. Graduate students will incorporate a more extensive array of research materials and will produce lengthier presentations and written works than undergraduates.
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