EWL 221 Oppression, Corruption, and Reform: 1860-1914 in US Literature
Industrialization. Exploitation. Conspicuous consumption. Poverty. Opportunity. Oppression. Segregation. The primary goal of this course is to explore the tensions in the literature and material culture in the United States between 1860 and 1914. We will read texts depicting the immigrant laboring class and the industrial barons, racial oppression and calls for reform. We will explore the material culture (art and the formation of museums, etiquette manuals, photographic journalism), and we will study how the development of a magazine culture aided and hindered the calls for reform. The class usually includes a field trip to the Tenement Museum as well as creative assignments concerning the variety of materials studied.