|
English 624: The American Self
Professor Howard Silverstein
For this
course in the reinvention of the self in American culture, we will
explore, in selected fiction and film, the subject of the American
who wants to rise above the drab circumstances and achieve an upwardly
mobile, socially glamorous lifestyle.
The course
will open with Willa Cather’s short story, “Paul’s
Case” and proceed to Henry James The Ambassadors, F.
Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Patricia Highsmith’s
thriller The Talented Mr. Ripley. Following the same theme in film, the class will view Hitchcock’s
classic “Vertigo”, the gender-bender “Tootsie”,
the feminist “Working Girl”, and the adaptation of Dreiser’s
An American Tragedy, “A Place in the Sun.”
Providing it is available on video, we will also examine
the film version of The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Students will be responsible for an oral presentation and
several short critical papers.
Back
to Graduate Courses
|
