Hauptseminar Key Figures of American Literature John Updike and Don DeLillo

In 2003, The Guardian notified a -Clash of the Titans- in reference to an article published in the literary section of the New Yorker in March that year about John Updike's critical response on Don DeLillo's new novel Cosmopolis, which Updike ironically praised for its -domestic emotion and common decency- by which he found DeLillo finally able to line the characteristically cold surface of his prose with the redemptive power of Updike's very own style of writing. Using landmark texts of Updike's and DeLillo's works, students will be introduced to these key figures of American Literature from -rival-style camps,- in whose works America is not only the setting but also the subject. Apart from studying the artistic and socio-political substance of their literary works, we will apply a comparative perspective, which considers the unifying as well as contrasting features of their writings and their very specific contribution to contemporary American fiction. We will particularly address how both writers are preoccupied with the representation of the family or rather the decline of the traditional nuclear family and the subsequent diversification of household arrangements in the USA as well as how they attend to the national and global impact of terror after the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001 in their fiction. All participants are requested to obtain and read the following primary texts, which will be discussed in the subsequent order (please make sure you get these editions!!): • John Updike, Seek My Face (Knopf, 2002); • Don DeLillo, Cosmopolis (Picador, 2003); • John Updike, Terrorist ([2006], Ballantine Books, 2007); • Don DeLillo, Falling Man ([2007], Scribner, 2008). Further texts required for the seminar will be provided online (cf. DuE Publico). Anglistik Universität Duisburg-Essen WS 2013/14 alle Lehrämter, alle Lehrämter PD Dr. Ikas Karin