A Literary Tour of the United States

Begin the course by considering core themes of American life that figure in the nation's literature, exploring the theme of travel and the road trip as seen in works by early American writers as well as later writings by Jack Kerouac, Vladimir Nabokov, Cormac McCarthy, and others. Grasp how notions of self-discovery and self-reinvention have characterized the American imagination.

Beginning with poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, trace the remarkable legacy of Boston's literary artists. Among many, sample the work of African American poet Phillis Wheatley, novelist Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, and the "confessional" poets Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Robert Lowell. Note the ways in which Boston's writers have used their creative powers to heal and unite the nation.

Here, take the measure of the wealth of literary giants who emerged within Massachusetts in the 19th century. Learn about the ideological movement of Transcendentalism in the work and influence of Ralph Waldo Emerson and others. Experience the work of Emily Dickinson, Margaret Fuller, Louisa May Alcott, and William Dean Howells.

Encounter a group of New England writers with particular connections to nature and the wild. Begin with transcendental philosopher Henry David Thoreau. Then, explore the life of Herman Melville and the experiences underlying his masterwork, Moby Dick; dive into the maritime tales of "regionalist" writer Sarah Orne Jewett; and experience the lyric poetry of Robert Frost.

Enter the rarified world of New York's high society in the 19th and 20th centuries. By examining the classic novels of Washington Irving, Edith Wharton, and Henry James, you'll see how writers used satire to skewer New York's monied class. Then chart the unruly spirit of the Jazz Age in the work of F. Scott Fitzgerald, and New York's latter day social elites feted by Truman Capote.

Track the literary expression of New York's immigrant communities, beginning with Abraham Cahan's The Rise of David Levinsky and Stephen Crane's Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, stories of social rise and the hardships of assimilation. In works by Julia Alvarez and Esmeralda Santiago, witness the struggle for freedom and identity in the writers' experience of bridging cultures.

This lecture follows the artistic output surrounding two interrelated social movements in 20th-century New York. First, uncover the history and ethos of the Harlem Renaissance, as seen in the works of Claude McKay, James Weldon Johnson, and Nella Larsen. Then, trace the long unfolding of the queer arts movement from the 1920s to the present in the poetry of Audre Lorde, Eileen Myles, and others.

Travel to the mid-Atlantic region to explore its richly diverse literature, beginning with 19th-century writer Rebecca Harding Davis. Learn the stories behind the gothic tales of Edgar Allan Poe. Note Frederick Douglass' monumental writing on slavery, and the brilliant social fiction of bell hooks, Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, and Barbara Kingsolver.

The literary traditions of Virginia and Washington, DC, are linked to the genre of the romance novel. Learn about the Reconstruction romances of Ellen Glasgow, which expressed hopes for healing the nation after the Civil War, and the 19th-century feminist adventure novels of E.D.E.N. Southworth. Then, delve into more recent romances set in our nation's capital by Nora Ephron and Devon Daniels.

Investigate the life of William Faulkner, one of the major exponents of the Southern Gothic in literature, and the unconventional circumstances surrounding his novel writing. Consider themes such as decay and prejudice in this genre, and the deeper truths its writers reveal as you explore the work of novelists Jesmyn Ward and Alice Walker, and the stories of Eudora Welty and Flannery O'Connor.

In this rich sampling of Southern writing, stop first at Monroeville, Alabama, to trace the lives and deep bond between novelists Harper Lee and Truman Capote. Within the distinctive culture of New Orleans, learn what inspired playwright Tennessee Williams, poets Charles Bukowski and Shelton Alexander, 19th-century novelists George Washington Cable, Kate Chopin, and Lafcadio Hearn, and others.

Follow the work of anthropologist and novelist Zora Neale Hurston in her travels around Florida, documenting Black culture in both fiction and nonfiction. Trace the Florida connections of writers Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings and Edith Wharton. Then, witness the uneasy relationship between poet Wallace Stevens and novelist Ernest Hemingway before exploring the presence of noted poets in Key West.

Moving farther west, discover the Missouri life of Mark Twain and the genesis of his beloved characters, Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer. Learn about St. Louis as a hub of trade and expansion in the memoirs of fur trapper James Beckwourth, the boyhood stories of poet T. S. Eliot, and the later work of novelist Kate Chopin. Uncover the remarkable life and work of poet and memoirist Maya Angelou.

Among great writers of the Midwest, observe how novelists Booth Tarkington and Theodore Dreiser criticized life within the suburban sprawl of 20th-century America. Engage the work of two icons of African American literature tied to place: poet Mari Evans and Nobel laureate novelist Toni Morrison. Also, encounter the incisive social commentary of Midwest novelist Celeste Ng.

The diverse cultural mix of Chicago has produced a remarkable literary legacy. Delve into the novels of Theodore Dreiser and Upton Sinclair, works that feature modern society as a fierce competition for survival, and witness the racism faced by African Americans in Richard Wright's Native Son. Learn about the rich poetry of Gwendolyn Brooks and the poignant writing of Sandra Cisneros.

Grasp how the familiar archetypes of the American West were created, through the work of popular novelists such as Owen Wister (The Virginian), Zane Grey (The Code of the West), and the exploits of the showman Buffalo Bill Cody. Take account of the highly romanticized and mythologized portrayals of cowboys and frontier life so prevalent in 20th-century American popular culture.

Learn how writers like Hernan Diaz are changing our narratives of the American West. Explore the realities and hardships of Native American history and experience, as reflected by writers such as Sarah Winnemucca and Zitkala-Sa. Discover literary sagas exploring Native resistance to cultural erasure and violence in the work of novelists N. Scott Momaday, Mona Susan Power, and Tommy Orange.

The American Southwest have long been a magnet for artists and writers, many of whom are drawn to its natural beauty and its blend of Native and Hispanic cultures. Learn how New Mexico became a mecca for creatives in the 1920s from Georgia O'Keefe to D. H. Lawrence and discover the expressive voice of Rodolfo Anaya. Then, dig deeply into the novels of Nebraskan Willa Cather.

The works of Central California writers speak movingly of the human cost of environmental decline. Delve into the brilliant writing of Manuel Muñoz and Sanora Babb on the lives of migrant workers, and John Steinbeck's iconic novels on the 1930s Dust Bowl and life on the California coast. Glimpse the beauty and magic of Carmel-by-the-Sea through the eyes of writers Jack London and Mary Austin.

Uncover the literary landscape of Hollywood, where American writers found inspiration in the surreal world of the movie industry. Begin with Nathanael West's chronicles of Hollywood's Golden Age and the LA misadventures of Faulkner and Fitzgerald. Glimpse parties at the Chateau Marmont and take stock of the pungent writings of some of the attendees: Eve Babitz and Joan Didion.

Relive two sides of the Gold Rush and the populating of Northern California in the xenophobic fiction of Frank Norris and Edith Maude Eaton's writing on anti-Asian racism. See how Maxine Hong Kingston and Amy Tan memorably evoke the experience of 20th-century Chinese Americans. Witness the rise and culture of Silicon Valley and a gentrified California in novels by Kathy Wang and Tommy Orange.

Learn about the Native cultures and immigrant settlements of the Pacific Northwest, and the work of Frederic Homer Balch, one of the first Anglo-American writers to feature Native Americans in fiction. Delve into the novels of Ken Kesey and the Japanese American writers Monica Sone and John Okada, who recorded the traumatic history of Japanese incarceration during World War II.

America's most remote states have given us remarkable literature. Begin with the writing of naturalist John Muir and novelist Jack London on Alaska's wilderness. Sample the Native Alaskan literary tradition in the work of Athabascan writer Velma Wallis. Explore themes of racial and cultural identity in contemporary Hawaiian fiction, in the novels of Jasmin 'Iolani Hakes and Kiana Davenport.

Conclude the course with a look at American writers abroad. Trace the lives of Gertrude Stein and Edith Wharton in France and their views of American society. Walk the streets of Paris with "Lost Generation" novelists like Ernest Hemingway and contemplate James Baldwin's reflections from that city in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement.