Trauma, mourning and melancholia, memory and its repression, counter-histories and their suppression testify to the ghostly presence of the past. In this class students will grapple with critical practices (theories and fictions) that represent such hauntings. How they do so and with what likely effects are the basic questions. We’ll begin our investigation by examining different conceptualizations of history and their impact on how we understand the world in which we live; from these diverse and often oppositional vantage points we will examine what does and does not count, as loss. This question asks you to ponder the stakes of the histories to which we are exposed and to take a stance on them.

The course is designed to provide students with: 1. a solid foundation in critical practices that take up the question of history and its impact on everyday life; 2. training in reading literary works historically, as rich cultural documents whose aesthetic strategies are always also political; 3. enhanced critical reading and writing skills; 4. a keener awareness of current directions in American Studies/Cultural Studies. It demands active and informed participation in class discussion. Its required texst are: a course packet, E .L Doctorow’s The Book of Daniel and Thuy’s The Gangster We’re All Looking For.