English 254: Literature of the American West

Ethnic American Literature

Spring 2002

Ethnic American Literature (CD & WI) will examine the fiction of Western American writers selected from diverse ethnic/immigrant backgrounds. The class will focus on the distinctive features of the various cultures in these works, a comparison of their themes, symbols, characterizations, styles, narrative techniques, and cultural significances, and their place in the American literary tradition.

The following are the books to be studied: Bless Me Ultima by Rudolpho Anaya, And the Earth Did Not Devour Him by Tomas Rivera, The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisnerso, Fools Crow by James Welch, The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie, My Antonia by Willa Cather, and Riding the White Horse Home by Teresa Jordan. The works center on rites of passage of adolescents and young adults, especially in connection with place and displacement.

Class requirements and assignment explanations for Spring 2002 English 254: Ethnic American Literature.

English 254 Daily Assignments
Class assignments for Spring 2002 English 254: Ethnic American Literature.

Writing about Literature
Suggestions for required Literary Analysis paper.

Book Analysis
Required format for the Book Analysis.

Movie Review
Required format for the Movie Review.

Chicano/Hispanic Backgrounds

Click here for a Annotated Bibliography of Hispanic works.

Click here for a sample semester high school course for Chicano literature.

Click here for an essay on Teaching Chicano Literature: An Historical Approach.

Click here for a Chicano Resources page.

Rudolfo Anaya

Click here for a brief bio and an audio of Anaya on "Writing the Southwest."

Click here for a Web Site on Rudolfo Anaya.

Click here for Anaya bibliography and links.

Click here for a "Cyberguide" for teaching Anaya's La Llorona.

Click here for the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe.

Click here for La Llorona website.

Tomas Rivera

Click here for Tomas Rivera Home Page.

Sandra Cisneros

Click here for a Web Site on Sandra Cisneros

Click here for the Internet Library Resource File on Sandra Cisneros

Click here for links to and evaluations of Cisneros Websites

Native American Backgrounds

Click here for Indian Country Today newspaper Home Page.

Click here for Native American Times newspaper Home Page.

Click here Native American Authors Online.

Click here for Native Web

Click here for Internet Public Library's Native American Authors Project.

Click here for the Santee Sioux Tribe of Nebraska Home Page

Click here for the Choctaw Nation Home Page.

Click here for Joseph Marshall III's "Keep Going" poster and spiritual excerpt.

Click here for Independent Native American Indian News Radio.

James Welch

Click here for Internet Library's Home Page of James Welch.

Click here for another Welch site as well as plot summaries about other books by native American authors.

Click here for Welch's essay on his writing career.
http://www.lopezbooks.com/na3/na3-01.html

Click here for an interview with James Welch.

Click here for the official Home Page for the Blackfeet Nation.

Click here for websites for Montana's Indian Nations.

Click here for background on the Plains Indians and the Sun Dance.

Click here for a discussion of smallpox as germ warfare against the American Indians. Click here for the American government and health problems of early American Indians.

Sherman Alexie

Click here for Sherman Alexie's Home Page.

Click here for more on Sherman Alexie.

American Immigrants/Emigrants

Click here for Ethnic groups in Nebraska

.

Click here for Immigration and Ellis Island site.

Click here for Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) Home Page.

Click here for Immigration History Research Center of the University of Minnesota.

Willa Cather

Click here for Harvard University's Willa Cather site

Click here for the official WCPM Willa Cather site

Teresa Jordan

Click here for an audio interview with Jordan about her latest book, Fieldnotes from the Grand Canyon.

Click here for audio clips of travel writing by Hal Cannon and Teresa Jordan.

Click here for a bio of Jordan and commments on Riding the White Horse Home.




bloomfields@unk.edu

Dr. Susanne (George) Bloomfield
Professor of English
204 Thomas Hall
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Kearney, NE 68849-1320
308-865-8867