In this course we will examine novels by Southern writers from 1942 to 2011, exploring how each novel represents evolving understandings of identity, culture, race, and gender at crucial times in American history and letters.

Each class will begin with a bit of lecture offering historical context and scholarly reception for each work but the main part of class will be discussion as we consider passages from each novel as well as the larger themes each author is addressing. We’ll look at literary techniques as well as thematics, thinking about point of view, character development, representations of time and memory, use of place and landscape, just to name a few. Your only homework will be reading each novel in time for our discussion each week and coming to class with any observations, question, or ideas you may have as well as a willingness to listen to the thoughts of others.

SCHEDULE

Week One: The Bear (1942) by William Faulkner
Week Two: The Member of the Wedding (1946) by Carson McCullers
Week Three: The Violent Bear It Away (1960) by Flannery O’Connor
Week Four: Salvage the Bones (2011) by Jesmyn Ward

ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR

Mary Wood is a semi-retired professor of English at the UO, where she has taught American Literature for over thirty years. She regularly teaches courses on 19th- and 20th-century American literature, American modernism, and memoir and autobiography and always makes sure to include Southern writers.