This course will introduce you to the study of texts that fall into the category American literature. American literature is, to be sure, an awfully broad category—the texts that might qualify seem almost limitless. What critera do and should scholars (and/or the reading public) use to establish which texts exemplify American literature? This is a complex and thorny question; there are hundreds of ways to go about answering it. For our attempt, we’ll examine several texts that scholars and readers have considered representative of American literature, asking questions both about how those texts operate in their special ways, and which of their characteristics and might—or might not!—make them particularly “American.” We’ll likely find that the category “American” turns out to be a troublesome one, with a set of assumptions about what it means to be “American” or what cultural values shape the idea of “Americanness.” We’ll study one novel, a couple short stories, a handful poems, and a film. Student work will consist of regular reading responses, a short collaborative essay, and a mid-length critical essay.