Course code

GRA6314.HT

old course code

Course title in Estonian

Ameerika kirjandus

Course title in English

American Literature

ECTS credits

6.0

Assessment form

Examination

lecturer of 2025/2026 Autumn semester

Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.

lecturer of 2025/2026 Spring semester

Not opened for teaching. Click the study programme link below to see the nominal division schedule.

Course aims

To give an overview of the history of American literature from the Colonial period to the present.

Brief description of the course

The Colonial period and the notion of the American Dream. The role of the frontier. Enlightenment. Romanticism and transcendentalism. Abolitionist literature. Realism and naturalism. The impact of the two world wars. Various manifestations of modernism and postmodernism: the Lost Generation; the literary renaissance of the American South; beatniks; the impact of mass culture; science fiction; the historical and feminist novel; black humour; the flourishing of ethnic and ecological fiction.

Learning outcomes in the course

Upon completing the course the student:
- is aware of the peculiarities of American literary periods and their main facts;
- is able to place texts within relevant historical and cultural contexts and compare them with texts from other literary traditions.

Teacher

Lektor Paul Rüsse

Study programmes containing that course

Liberal Arts in Humanities (KKLHB/21.HT)
European Modern Languages and Cultures (GRENB/21.HT)
European Modern Languages and Cultures (GRENB/20.HT)
Liberal Arts in Humanities (KKLHB/20.HT)
European Modern Languages and Cultures (GRENB/19.HT)
Liberal Arts in Humanities (KKLHB/19.HT)
European Modern Languages and Cultures (GRENB/18.HT)
Liberal Arts in Humanities (KKLHB/18.HT)
Liberal Arts in Humanities (KKLHB/17.HT)
European Modern Languages and Cultures (GRENB/17.HT)
European Modern Languages and Cultures (GRENB/16.HT)
European Modern Languages and Cultures (GRENB/00.HT)