Postwar American Literature and Culture

This course explores U.S. literary culture from the end of the Second World War to 1980. Through selected readings of both canonical and lesser-known texts, it offers theoretical perspectives on the rise and decline of postmodernism, and the emergence of the literary neo-avant-gardes. It examines how writers reflected on and responded to major social and political shifts, such as the Cold War, Civil Rights Movement, and the counterculture of the 1960s. Committed to interdisciplinary thinking, the course examines literature in relation to broader cultural movements, including the rise of Abstract Expressionism in art, the evolution of jazz and rock in music, and Hollywood and avant-garde film. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, we consider how new methodologies, periodizations, and thematics have redefined the study of postwar literature alongside developments in other artistic fields.