Special Themes in Literature: Exploring American Masculinity

We will investigate the evolution of masculinity through a selection of American literary works from the early 19th century to the present. Beginning with Washington Irving’s Rip Van Winkle, a story of a man who sleeps through the Revolutionary War, and ending with Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho, a satire of 1980s consumerist masculinity, we will trace how authors have idealized and critiqued American men in literature. Through stories by Hemingway, Faulkner, Ellison, Updike, Carver, Alexie, McCarthy, and others, we will explore how race, class, trauma, and popular culture shape masculine identity. Overall, we will examine what it means to be a man in America, and trace how those definitions have changed or continued over time. Your grade will be based on pop reading quizzes, in-class participation, two exams, and one short paper.