Major Authors (360-0-20)

Instructors

Tracy Vaughn
8474913725
1860 Campus Dr Crowe 5-103

Meeting Info

Shepard Hall Classroom B05: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM

Overview of class

This course will be an intensive examination of the significant contributions made to American arts and letters by Toni Morrison. We will consider her contributions through her roles as editor, author, and public scholar. As an editor, Morrison single-handedly ensured the publication of trailblazing Black American texts. Morrison the author continues to create a canon that centers on and celebrates the complexities of Black American life. As a public scholar Morrison scrutinizes the ways in which the American literary canon often fails to acknowledge the important cultural contributions of Black Americans.

Learning Objectives

You will learn how to read closely and critically; how to develop a distinctive voice in your writing; and how to ask informed questions and frame persuasive answers. You will also acquire a technical and critical vocabulary for various literary forms and use it in your own written analysis of a given text. One of the primary questions we will consider throughout the quarter Is How does Morrison's work generate a sense of individual and collective identity that extends beyond the scope of race and gender.

Class Materials (Required)

Morrison, Toni: The Bluest Eye (1970)
Song of Solomon (1977)
Beloved (1987)
Home (2012)

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
U.S. Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity