20 Credits SPRING



Aims/Description: This module analyses the development of road narratives in cinema, fiction, poetry and visual art from the 1930s to the present, looking at the ways in which this narrative trope tells the story of American culture and society throughout the twentieth-century. The module aims to address some or all of the following questions. Do road journeys reflect or run away from political realities 'at home'?  To what extent is the road journey a gendered space predominantly occupied by men?  Are certain groups of people allowed to travel and other groups not?  Is the road journey a metaphor for American colonization and expansion, or something else more ambiguous?  Texts to be studied include films such as The Wizard of Oz and Thelma and Louise, novels by Jack Kerouac and Barbara Kingsolver, and poems by Elizabeth Bishop and Amy Clampitt.

Staff Contact: ELLIS JONATHAN S
Teaching Methods: Lectures, Seminars, Independent Study
Assessment: Course work

Information on the department responsible for this unit (English):

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Teaching methods and assessment displayed on this page are indicative for 2025-26.

Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK