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February 13, 2006 Contact: Charmaine Daniels at (207) 893-7723 or e-mail cdaniels@sjcme.edu

Saint Joseph’s College offers new Literature and American Culture major

Saint Joseph’s College of Maine announces a new major in Literature and American Culture designed for studying literature within the context of American culture and 21st-century issues. Although based in literature, the major is more rooted in contemporary social, political, and aesthetic issues than the typical English major.

“I think that students will find this major particularly relevant to contemporary life,” says Saint Joseph’s English professor Edward Rielly, who helped to develop the new field of study.

Different from programs in American Studies, and Cultural Studies found at other colleges, where the focus is often more historical and sociological, the new major offers an interdisciplinary perspective on society through the prism of fiction, drama, poetry, memoir and essay.

Rielly says literature reflecting on current significant issues abounds, such as August Wilson’s Radio Golf, the final installment of a 10-play sequence about the African-American experience in America, and Here, Bullet, a volume of poems by Brian Turner, an infantry team leader in Iraq. “These and many others works present students with the issues in today’s newspapers, but do so in far greater depth and in more compelling ways,” says Rielly.

“We will read literature for aesthetic elements such as plot, metaphor and symbol, but we’ll also look at how that literature reflects aspects of American culture,” Rielly adds. “As we analyze the texts, we’ll consider such topics as American values, beliefs, history, ways of living and working and global concerns.”

As with the English major, Literature and American Culture will help students develop their ability to read critically, write effectively, and engage in research. Along with foundation courses in American literature and history, coursework will offer Native-American Literature, African-American Literature, Religion and Literature, Interpretive Nature of Cinema, Literature of the Vietnam War, and Modern Literature, Baseball and Society. The major also prescribes senior capstone courses in Literary Criticism and a course in 21st Century Issues in American Culture. An internship is also recommended for completing the major.

The 21st-Century Issues in American Culture course will explore significant cultural issues – political, religious, economic, sociological, and aesthetic. The course may consider a range of issues or a specific issue or event, e.g., literary responses to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001; or literature and the environment in contemporary America.

Saint Joseph’s College is located on Sebago Lake in southern Maine, one-half hour from Portland, Maine’s largest city.