ENGL 2130: Dream Americas
Course Description
In the introduction to his 1985 book of photographs, America, pop artist Andy Warhol writes:
Everybody has their own America, and then they have the pieces of a fantasy America that they think is out there but they can’t see.When I was little, I never left Pennsylvania, and I used to have fantasies about things that I thought were happening in the Midwest,or down South, or in Texas, that I felt I was missing out on. But you can only live in one place at a time. And your own life while it’shappening to you never has any atmosphere until it’s a memory. So the fantasy corners of America seem so atmospheric because you’ve pieced them together from scenes in movies and music and lines from books. And you live in your dream America that you’ve custom-made from art and schmaltz and emotions just as much as you live in your real one.
Rather than reflecting on the “American Dream”–merely one such fantasy Warhol describes in his book’s opening passage–this course examines a plurality of “dream Americas” that emerge in and from the diverse literary, artistic, and media traditions of the U.S. and beyond. In our examinations of contemporary and historical works, we will resist dominant nationalizing narratives, shifting our focus instead to underrepresented voices and texts, which dream other dreams that make and remake America as we know it. Our study of American literature will emphasize longstanding cultural tensions, issues of social and economic justice, questions of security and belonging, and legacies of colonization and emancipation, as well as the role of creative activity in sustaining dreams of better futures.
Dr. Shannon Finck • January 13, 2022