American Expatriate Literature, Dr. Nancy Dixon
Summer 2007
In this course we will examine the works and lives of American expatriate writers in Europe beginning with Edith Wharton and Henry James, who, according to Mary McCarthy, "set the themes [of expatriate literature] once and for all." We will move on to the Paris scene of the 1920s and 30s by reading Sylvia Beach's Shakespeare & Company along with works of many of the writers that appear in her book, including Gertrude Stein and Djuna Barnes, as well as more recent Paris writers, such as Paul Bowles and James Baldwin. Finally, we will look at expatriate writers in Spain, including Chester Himes, Ernest Hemingway, and Richard Wright.
Course Work
If you are taking this class for undergraduate credit, you will have to read all the works, attend class regularly, participate in class discussions, and complete a journal, in which you will respond to the literature and discussions that we cover in class as well as respond to your time as an ÒÒexpatriateÓÓ in Spain. If you are taking this course for graduate credit, you will have to complete all of the above assignments plus give an oral presentation and write a 7-10 page essay. For your presentation, you may choose one of the authors whose works we are reading and provide us with an overview and lead the class discussion that pertains to that author.
Course Syllabus
July 4-Introduction to class and to each other
July 5-Marc Robinson anthology, Altogether Elsewhere, Baldwin, Boyle, Crosby, McCarthy, Pinckney
July 6-Henry James, Daisy Miller; Edith Wharton, "Roman Fever"
July 9-Sylvia Beach, Shakespeare and Company; Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
July 10-Gertrude Stein, The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas; F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Winter Dreams"
July 11-Margie on Paul Bowles, "A Distant Episode," "Here To Learn," "The Garden"
July 16-Djuna Barnes selected short stories, "The Head of Babylon," "Smoke," "The Earth"; Gertrude Stein, Tender Buttons
July 17-Bill Lavender on Ezra Pound, "With Usura," 1st Pisan Canto (#74), Hemingway, "Under the Ridge"
July 23-Elizabeth Spencer, Light in the Piazza; James Baldwin, "Going To Meet the Man," "This Morning, this Evening, so Soon"
July 24-American expatriates in Madrid panel
July 25-Richard Wright, Pagan Spain
Texts
You may find these selections, short stories and poems, as you will. I will be xeroxing my copies from various anthologies so that I don't have to carry them around Europe for the rest of the summer, and I suggest you do the same. There is a lot of reading in this course, so please come prepared and don't plan to read everything in Madrid.
Looking forward to seeing you in Madrid, and please e-mail me if you have any questions.