final examination topics: MA, American literature

19th century American poetry: Whitman and Dickinson. Discuss the most important features of their poetry, representative works, and respective modes of innovation.
The American Renaissance: its literature and philosophy. Discuss the main principles, philosophical background, and at least four representative texts (one from Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne, and Melville each).
Nature and the frontier in American literature. Discuss representative early and mid-19th century fiction and essays by Cooper, Emerson, and Thoreau.
19th century women writers: discuss relevant topics and perspectives, with examples from Gilman and Glaspell.
Two traditions of modernism in American poetry: discuss high modernism and radical modernism by highlighting the relevant tenets as expounded in essays and practiced in poetic texts.
The high realism of Henry James. Discuss at least one novel and one short story.
Traditions of modernism in American fiction: discuss tenets and modes of writing; bring examples from at least three novels and three short stories written by Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, and Stein.
African American modernism: discuss tenets and modes of writing; bring examples from at least two novels and two short stories written by Wright, Hurston, Larsen, and Johnson.
20th century women fiction writers: discuss tenets and modes of writing; bring examples from at least one novel and two short stories written by O’Connor, McCullers, and Morrison.
The passing novel in 20th century American fiction: discuss race and gender passing; bring examples from at least three major texts written by Johnson, Larsen, Hwang, and Roth.
Formalism and New Criticism
Structuralism and narratology
Poststructuralism: postmodernism and deconstruction
Feminist, gay and lesbian criticism
Performative theory and intersubjective theory

recommended readings

Bollobás Enikő, Az amerikai irodalom története. Budapest: Osiris, 2005.
Gray, Richard, A History of American Literature. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.
Elliott, Emory, ed., Columbia Literary History of the United States. New York: Columbia UP, 1998.
Bercovitch, Sacvan, ed., The Cambridge History of American Literature , I, II, VIII. New York: Cambridge UP, 1994, 1995, 1999.
Abádi Nagy Zoltán, Mai amerikai regénykalauz. Budapest: Intera Rt., 1995.
Ruland, Richard, and Malcolm Bradbury, From Puritanism to Postmodernism. London: Routledge, 1991.
Bercovitch, Sacvan, Reconstructing American Literary History. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1986.
Bigsby, C. W. E., A Critical Introduction to Twentieth-Century American Drama. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1985.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., Black Literature and Literary Theory. New York: Methuen, 1984.
Fauchereau, Serge, Századunk amerikai költészetérõl. Budapest: Európa, 1974.
Fiedler, Leslie, Love and Death in the American Novel. New York: Criterion, 1960.
Matthiessen, F.O., The American Renaissance. New York: Oxford UP, 1941.
Scott, Bonnie Kime, ed., The Gender of Modernism: A Critical Anthology. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1990.
Baym, Nina, Feminism and American Literary History. New Brunswick: Rutgers UP, 1992.
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr., and Nellie Y. McKay, ed., The Norton Anthology of African American Literature. New York: Norton, 1997.
Lauter, Paul, ed., Reconstructing American Literature: Courses, Syllabi, Issues. New York: Feminist Press, 1983.
Martin, Steven-Paul, Open Form and the Feminine Imagination. The Politics of Reading in Twentieth-Century Innovative Writing. Washington, D.C.: Maisonneuve P, 1988.
Singh, Amritjit, Joseph T. Skerrett, Jr., and Robert E. Hogan, ed., Memory and Cultural Politics: New Approaches to American Ethnic Literatures. Boston: Northeastern UP, 1996.
Singh, Amritjit, Joseph T. Skerrett, Jr., and Robert E. Hogan, ed., Memory, Narrative, and Identity: New Essays in Ethnic American Literatures. Boston: Northeastern UP, 1994.
McHale, Brian, Postmodernist Fiction. London: Methuen, 1987.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and Giles Gunn, ed., Redrawing the Boundaries. The Transformation of English and American Literary Studies. New York: MLA, 1992.
Waugh, Patricia, ed., Literary Theory and Criticism. An Oxford Guide. Oxford UP, 2006.
Leitch, Vincent B., ed., The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. New York: Norton, 2001.
Wolfreys, Julian, ed., Literary Theories. A Reader and Guide. New York: New York UP, 1999.
Richter, David H., ed., Falling Into Theory. Conflicting Views on Reading Literature. Boston: Bedford Book of St. Martin’s Press, 1994.
Lauter, Paul, Canons and Contexts. New York: Oxford UP, 1991.
Lodge, David, ed., Modern Criticism and Theory. London: Longman, 1988.
Harner, James H., ed., Literary Research Guide. Baltimore: New York: MLA, 2002.
Kopley, Richard, ed., Prospects for the Study of American Literature. A Guide for Scholars and Students. New York: New York UP, 1997.