Syllabus
Course Description and Objectives
In this course you will study American literature and economics from 1900 to the present. Topics to be discussed include the roaring 20s, the Great Depression, the dot.com bubble, neoliberalism, and the recent financial crisis.
Looking at a number of novels, but also films, short stories, and economic theory, we will examine how the American tradition engages with economics and creates fictions about finance.
Course Requirements
The course is based on seminar-style discussions, with mini-lectures, collaborative group work, and individual scholarly research.
Your learning will be assessed in several ways to allow for all learning styles to flourish:
- Attendance and Participation and Presentation (20%)
- Bi-Weekly writing assignment (20%)
either a) cites a specific passage in the novel and asks a question prompted by a close reading or b) points to a specific paragraph in the secondary reading that you wish to illuminate, discuss, or challenge.
- Mid Term Paper (15%)
- Annotated Bibliography (15%)
- Final Paper (30%)