123223 SE Literary Seminar / BA-Arbeit / MA American/North American Lit./Studies (2021S)

The dramatic events in Washington on 6 January 2021, and the preceding demonstrations and conflicts in the USA have shown how polarized the society in the United States has become. The racial and social divides have been particularly apparent in the American South, no doubt partly a consequence of the burden of history, with slavery and the delayed implementation of civil rights legislation after many decades of segregation. After the end of the Reconstruction Era the region saw economic stagnation, widespread poverty and the sad lot of hundreds of thousands of indigent sharecroppers, both white and black, and radical divisions in society, which have not been bridged despite the economic boost of the New South and the development of the affluent so-called “Southern Rim” (Phoenix- Dallas –Houston – Atlanta – Charlotte).
Many important writers have addressed the grave societal problems in Dixie, with racial violence (and numerous notorious cases of lynching) and far-reaching segregation, and have exposed the shortcomings in its diverse sub-regions, including the long resistance to reforms and the application of civil rights legislation.
The seminar is to consider some of the fictional texts, both stories and novels, which mirror these historical realities, especially in the Deep South, and reflect attempts to overcome the many obstacles to establish a fair and just social system. - The seminar will also offer a preparation for an international interdisciplinary conference which will hopefully convene in November 2021, when international experts will deal with the disconcerting phenomena of “Polarization in the North Atlantic Triangle”, a conference with a clear focus on the USA.