It has always seemed to me a rare privilege, this, of being
an American, a real American, one whose tradition it has taken
scarcely sixty years to create. We need only realize our parents,
remember our grandparents, and know ourselves, and our history
is complete.
The old people in a new world, the new people made out of the old,
that is the story that I mean to tell, for that is what really is and
what I really know.

--Gertrude Stein
The Making of Americans

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

--Maya Angelou


The above quotations define the main objectives of this course: to survey a cross section of stories from 19th – 21st century American life, perspectives rooted in historical, cultural, and biographical fact. In 5 weeks we will read and reflect on an assortment of American narratives, acquainting ourselves with the facts of American history that preceded and followed the writing of these narratives, just as we will consider them from socio-cultural as well as biographical, race, gender, and class perspectives--we will connect those contexts to the substance and style of the stories.

By the end of the quarter, you should have a sophisticated understanding of what American literature "really is" and what more you'd like to read after course completion to "really know" past and present “Americas” that help to configure your contemporary culture.