SYLLABUS - 8 CFU
The 8-credit survey course includes the following works and related themes:

The American Short Story in the Nineteenth Century
A. Bendixen, “The Emergence and Development of the American Short Story” (see below, Critical Bibliography)

The Gilded Age: Realism, Naturalism, Regionalism
- American Literature 1865-1914, Introduction and Timeline (see below, Critical Bibliography)

Realism and Society in the Gilded Age
- Rebecca Harding Davis, Life in the Iron Mills (1861)
- Henry James, "The Beast in the Jungle" (1903)
- Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Wife of His Youth” (1898)

Geographies of Regionalism
- Mark Twain, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (1865)
- Kate Chopin, “Désirée’s Baby” (1893) – “The Story of an Hour” (1894)

The Frontiers of American Naturalism
- Stephen Crane, “The Blue Hotel” (1898)
- Stephen Crane, “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky” (1898)
- Jack London, “To Build a Fire” (1902)

The Twentieth Century: Modernism in the United States
- American Literature 1914-1945, Introduction and Timeline (see below, Critical Bibliography)

American Modernism and Poetry
- Robert Frost (“Mending Wall” – “ The Road not Taken”), Edgar Lee Masters (“Trainor the Druggist” – “Dippold the Optician”), and William Carlos Williams (“The Red Wheelbarrow” – “The Great Figure”)

The American Short Story in the Twentieth Century
- J. Nagel, “The Twentieth Century: A Period of Innovation and Continuity” (see below, Critical Bibliography)

American Modernism and Fiction
- William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily” (1930)
- Francis Scott Fitzgerald, “Babylon Revisited” (1931)
- Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933)
- Ernest Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936)
- John Steinbeck, “The Leader of the People” (1945)

The Contemporary Age and Postmodernism
- American Literature since 1945, Introduction and Timeline (see below, Critical Bibliography)

American Contemporary Literature: Metafiction, Multiculturalism, Minimalism
- Leslie Marmon Silko, “Lullaby” (1981)
- Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (1983)
- Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” (1983)
- Jhumpa Lahiri, "Sexy" (1999)

Critical Bibliography:
- American Literature 1865-1914: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- American Literature 1914-1945: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- American Literature since 1945: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- A. Bendixen, “The Emergence and Development of the American Short Story,” in A Companion to the American Short Story, eds. A. Bendixen and J. Nagel, Malden, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 3-19.
- J. Nagel, “The Twentieth Century: A Period of Innovation and Continuity”, in A Companion to the American Short Story, eds. A. Bendixen and J. Nagel, Malden, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 217-223.
Alternatively, students may choose the following critical essay:
- A. Secco, “The Search for Origins through Storytelling in Native American Literature: Momaday, Silko, Erdrich,” RSA Journal 3 (1992), pp. 59-72 (available online).

SYLLABUS - 6 CFU
The 6-credit survey course includes the following works and related themes:

The American Short Story in the Nineteenth Century
A. Bendixen, “The Emergence and Development of the American Short Story” (see below, Critical Bibliography)

The Gilded Age: Realism, Naturalism, Regionalism
- American Literature 1865-1914, Introduction and Timeline (see below, Critical Bibliography)

Realism and Society in the Gilded Age
- Charles W. Chesnutt, “The Wife of His Youth” (1898)

Geographies of Regionalism
- Mark Twain, “The Notorious Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” (1865)

The Frontiers of American Naturalism
- Stephen Crane, “The Blue Hotel” (1898)

The Twentieth Century: Modernism in the United States
- American Literature 1914-1945, Introduction and Timeline (see below, Critical Bibliography)

American Modernism and Poetry
- Robert Frost (“The Road not Taken”), and William Carlos Williams (“The Red Wheelbarrow” – “The Great Figure”)

The American Short Story in the Twentieth Century
- J. Nagel, “The Twentieth Century: A Period of Innovation and Continuity” (see below, Critical Bibliography)

American Modernism and Fiction
- William Faulkner, “A Rose for Emily” (1930)
- Zora Neale Hurston, “The Gilded Six-Bits” (1933)
- Ernest Hemingway, “The Snows of Kilimanjaro” (1936)

The Contemporary Age and Postmodernism
- American Literature since 1945, Introduction and Timeline (see below, Critical Bibliography)

American Contemporary Literature: Metafiction, Multiculturalism, Minimalism
- Thomas Pynchon, “Entropy” (1960)
- Toni Morrison, “Recitatif” (1983)
- Raymond Carver, “Cathedral” (1983)
- Jhumpa Lahiri, "Sexy" (1999).

Critical Bibliography:
- American Literature 1865-1914: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- American Literature 1914-1945: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- American Literature since 1945: Introduction and Timeline, in Norton Anthology of American Literature.
- A. Bendixen, “The Emergence and Development of the American Short Story,” in A Companion to the American Short Story, eds. A. Bendixen and J. Nagel, Malden, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 3-19.
- J. Nagel, “The Twentieth Century: A Period of Innovation and Continuity”, in A Companion to the American Short Story, eds. A. Bendixen and J. Nagel, Malden, Wiley-Blackwell, 2010, pp. 217-223.