This course is a study of American narratives, from a variety of ethnic traditions and historical eras, that explore the meaning of the forms of movement-immigration, migration, boundary crossing-so characteristic of American life. We will emphasize each author's treatment of the complex encounter between new or marginalized Americans and an established American culture, and on definitions and interrogations of what it might mean to be or become "American." While I may begin with some early material, briefly considered (e.g. excerpts from Crevecour's Letters or DuBois's The Souls of Black Folk), most texts will be from the 20th Century. I will accompany the fictional texts with some historical and theoretical reading covering key concepts (e.g. "ethnicity") and contexts. I am planning to teach a film or two as part of the regular syllabus, though I may also set up a parallel, "extracurricular" film series.

The final reading list is still under construction, but here is a sample itinerary, with many more texts than it will be possible to teach.
1. First generations. Immigrants on the Land. Willa Cather, My Antonia; Paredes, With a Pistol in his Hand. Immigrants and the City. A Jewish-American novel, say Anzia Yezierska's Bread Givers, or Henry Roth's Call It Sleep; Pietro di Donato, Christ in Concrete or The Parish and the Hill by Mary Doyle Curran; the Chinese in America: Sui Sin Far, Mrs. Spring Fragrance and Other Stories.
2. American migrations. Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby; Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath. Ellison, Invisible Man. Nella Larsen, Quicksand. Cisneros, The House on Mango Street.
3. Betrayals: fiction of the internment camps. John Okada, No No Boy ; Joy Kogawa, Obasan.
4. Exiles in the homeland. Native American fiction: Leslie Marmon Silko, Ceremony. Alexie, et.al. Smoke Signals (film). 5. Reconstructions: Kingston, China Men; Mary Gordon, Final Payments; Puzo/Coppola, The Godfather, Frank Chin, Donald Duk.
6. America now. John Sayles, Lone Star (film). Junot Diaz, Drown. Jhumpa Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies. Tony Kushner, Angels in America.

Written work will probably consist of several quite short papers, a longer, comparative essay due toward the end of the term, and a final examination.