The course covers the entire period from the time of early settlers, through the
westward movement to the contemporary period. American literature is integrally
connected with the experiences of a people struggling to establish themselves as a
nation. Questions of individualism, quest for identity, political freedom from Britain
and cultural freedom from the European tradition have marked American literature from
time to time. The emergence of black literature and other ethnic traditions is another
major hallmark of American writing.
Facilitates an understanding of the different approaches to dramatic writing and playing and how these approaches demand specific kinds of responses to the dramatic text in terms of the performative and the theatrical.
Text and Performance explores the relationship between dramatic literature and performance practices.
The course intends to familiarise students with key concepts of comparative literary analysis and put them into practice through the works prescribed in the syllabus. Translation and its cultural turn along with the relevance of comparative study in the backdrop of postcolonial studies are other concepts discussed in detail.
The course includes a reading of some of the major theoretical interpretations of the
narrative, alongside a thorough reading of some of the most significant and path breaking
works of creative literature. The main objective of this course is to familiarise the student with the various modes of narrative
fiction attempted across centuries, continents and languages.