The courses offered by the department focus on the formal, aesthetic, social, cultural, and historical aspects of literature and literary production and reception. Students are encouraged to approach literature from a variety of perspectives, e.g. exploring how it represents personal and collective identity, how it dramatizes the tensions between democratic ideals and social and political practice, and how it figures the place of the United States in the world. Courses are designed to acquaint students with some of the major trends in literary history, to expose them to a variety of representational modes and forms, to offer opportunities to employ various strategies of textual analysis, and to acquaint students with some of the key concepts of literary theory.

Upcoming Course Offerings

Winter Semester 2026/27

 Bachelor Program

• American Renaissance Reconsidered (Stefanie Müller)
• Self-Help Literature (James Dorson)
• Embodied Landscapes in Early American Literature (Phillip James Grider)
• Understanding North America a Literature/Culture (Lea Espinoza Garrido/ Martin Lüthe)
• BA Colloquium Literature/Culture (Lea Espinoza Garrido)

 

Master Program

• American Renaissance Reconsidered (Stefanie Müller)

• Literary Theory and Methods (James Dorson)
• Writing Poverty (James Dorson)
• Reading Moby Dick at 175 (Stefanie Müller / Alexander Starre)

 

GSNAS

• Literary Theory and Methods (James Dorson)

For more information on upcoming course offerings in the Literature Department, please click here. To access the course catalog, please go to this section.