I’m making the final touches on syllabi for my courses on American literature at JMU and composition at Mary Baldwin College.
As for the course on American lit. since 1865, I’m thinking about teaching the usual suspects:
Walt Whitman
Mark Twain
Jack London
Henry James
Emily Dickinson
Paul Lawrence Dunbar
W.E.B. DuBois
Gertrude Stein
Carl Sanderg
Willa Cather
Upton Sinclair
T.S. Elliot
Ezra Pound
Dylan Thomas
Ernest Hemingway
Robert Frost
F. Scott Fitzgerald
William Faulkner
John Steinbeck
Langston Hughes
Zora Neale Hurston
Richard Wright
Ralph Ellison
James Baldwin
Wallace Stevens
William Carlos Williams
e. e. cummings
Arthur Miller
William Burroughs
Allen Ginsberg
Jack Kerouac
J.D. Salinger
Sylvia Plath
Kurt Vonnegut
Dylan Thomas
N. Scott Momaday
Simon Ortiz
Oscar Zeta Acosta
Leslie Marmon Silko
Amiri Baraka
Toni Morrison
Rita Dove
Don Delillo
Sherman Alexie
Louise Erdrich
Sam Shepard
As for the authors assigned for my composition classes at Mary Baldwin College, the list is shorter but just as sweet:
President Bush’s speech on the surge in the war in Iraq
President Obama’s speech on the surge in the war in Afghanistan
Tim O’Brien’s “How to Tell a True War Story”
J.D. Salinger “For Esmé – with Love and Squalor”
Ernest Hemingway “The Big Two-Hearted River”
Errol Morris “The Fog of War”
Thanks to all those who have contribued to this list, and please, if you haven’t, contribute your own recommendations by leaving a comment.
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What a rockin’ AmLit list! Did you ever take a course with Momaday? I remember him as sort of like a literature “coach” more than a prof.
I’ve heard that Obama’s speech on race and Rev. Wright is his best speech so far. He’s pretty frustrating when he talks about war. On that topic, his speech in accepting the Nobel prize might be better. I’m betting you considered these.
Best,
Comment by Adam August 30, 2010 @ 11:41 amAdam
Alas, N. Scott Momaday stopped teaching the year before I enrolled at the U of A. I am proud to say he was one of my major authors on my comps list!
I agree about your sentiment regarding Pres. Obama’s speeches. Of course, the reason I pair his “surge” speech with that of Pres. Bush’s is to create cognitive dissonance among my students. Two presidents couldn’t seem further apart until you read their speeches together…it’s amazing what the position of President assumes.
Thanks for the comment.
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