120122 PS Introductory Seminar (literature) (2008S)

"I feel the need of a land, of a sure terrain, of a sort of permanent landscape of the heart" (Elizabeth Spencer). While some critics doubt that the South as a cultural entity still exists, others hold on to their belief in a distinctive "Southern" literary imagination. Doubtless, the historical and socio-cultural background of the agrarian South created different spaces for Southern women than for those living in the progressive, individualistic American North.
In this class we will deal with female writers from the American South whose texts focus on topics of personal development: childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. We will try to find out whether the Southern imagination is expressed in truly distinctive features, or are these stories the distillation of a more common American, or even global, experience?