The topic of "ethnicity" in American Literature has become subsumed in recent years by the discourses of race and culture. We will return to the concept of ethnic literature as central to discussions of American writing and American identity, and will examine ethnicity in relation to language, race, religion, nationality, and immigration. We will discuss ethnicity within the framework of transnational approaches to American literature, as well as its representation through dialect, voice, and modernist experimentation. Readings will span the twentieth century, from Edith Wharton and Gertrude Stein at the beginning of the century, to Willa Cather, Nella Larsen, and D'arcy McNickle in the interwar years, to the contemporary writing of Philip Roth and Achy Obejas.

Primary Readings:

Edith Wharton, The House of Mirth
Gertrude Stein, "Melanctha" (from Three Lives)
Anzia Yezierska, Salome of the Tenements
Nella Larsen, Passing
Willa Cather, The Professor's House
Philip Roth, American Pastoral

Tentatively:
D'Arcy McNickle, The Surrounded
Achy Obejas, Days of Awe

Theoretical and Critical Readings to be announced.