This asynchronous, online class will read American prose and poetry from 1865 to the present and will include texts like Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the poetry of Sylvia Plath, Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, and Percival Everret’s James. As we read, we will consider competing representations of American life and how these views impact how we conceive of the very idea of American literature. Questions will include: What constitutes American literature? Who is included in the American canon? What is unique about American literature? How has American literature changed in the 170-year span this class covers? Additionally, we will study these works in the context of various literary and cultural movements like realism, modernism, and post-modernism. Assignments will include discussion posts, short writing assignments, and critical essays.