32211
Advanced seminar
History and Memory in the African American Novel
Stefanie Müller
Comments
Since its earliest expressions, African American literature has always sought to give testimony as well as to add to collective and cultural memory. African American artists, and literary writers in particular, have consistently striven to expand this archive through their autobiographical and their imaginative work, adding diverse voices and stories, and challenging and resisting master narratives. In this class, we will focus on texts that do this type of culture and memory work at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first century, such as the neo-slave narrative.
Our discussion will focus on how writers approached history and historiography as well as memory in their works, which includes issues such as what counts as official history, whose voices get heard and whose don’t, or what is the relationship between individual and collective memory. To better understand these issues and their literary treatment, we will draw on non-fiction as well as theoretical writings on slavery, memory, and aesthetics.
This is a reading-intensive class, meaning that we will discuss several novels in addition to poetry and excerpts from longer texts. If you don’t like to read fiction, think twice about joining!
Moreover, if you want to participate and receive credits for it, please take note of the following conditions for participation:
1. Register on Blackboard for this class – this is where you will find further information as well as reading material.
2. The shopping period is limited to week one. You must commit to the class by our second meeting.
Set texts include Toni Morrison’s Beloved, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ The Water Dancer, and Edward P. Jones’ The Known World.
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16 Class schedule
Regular appointments
Tue, 2025-10-14 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2025-10-21 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2025-10-28 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2025-11-04 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2025-11-11 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2025-11-18 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2025-11-25 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2025-12-02 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2025-12-09 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2025-12-16 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2026-01-06 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2026-01-13 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2026-01-20 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2026-01-27 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2026-02-03 14:00 - 16:00
Tue, 2026-02-10 14:00 - 16:00