For SPRING 2008: This course will focus on the theme of “War and Human Experience” and give us an opportunity to read some of the most prominent literary texts in American literature, such as Chester Himes’s If He Hollers Let Him Go and John Okada’s No-No Boy. Through close reading and textual analysis, we will see these literary texts not only as a source of pleasure but also as an indispensable medium for advancing our knowledge about human experience, especially the experience among diverse racial and ethnic groups in the United States during and after the WWII. In this course we will discuss how the social, economic, and political changes during the wartime act on the interactions between different ethnic groups (especially between African Americans and Asian Americans) and the ways in which such interactions reflect on our current discussions of racism and nationalism. In addition to reading several full novels, the students will be required to read short stories, historical documents, literary criticism, and theoretical essays complied in the course pack. Course requirements include active participation, group presentation, weekly response papers, and two research papers (5-7 pages in length). Please also note that this is a W-course.

1) Course Pack

Texts:

• Chester Himes. If He Hollers Let Him Go. [1560254459]
• John Okada. No-No Boy. [0295955252]