Most of us are aware that the decade of the 60s is not an exclusively American domain, but this course will focus on some of the events, culture, and historical elements of the American sixties. When I direct this course in the U.S., the focus is primarily on literature, especially that of experimental forms (Barthelme, Barth, Vonnegut, Adrienne Kennedy, Didion, etc.), and countercultural literature (Brautigan, Tom Wolfe, Kesey, Ginsberg, etc.). Music is also treated as a literary text in this context (with a list so long, the web might explode if I began to cite examples).

     Here, in Montpellier, we will take a broad cultural, social, intellectual, and literary view of the decade. Each week will feature a topic, historical moment, or figure as the central focus. Most of the reading will be available online, or in pdf form which will be made available to the students.
    For instance, there is likely to be a week or two on American postmodernism and Black Humor, featuring writers like Donald Barthelme, John Barth, and Woody Allen, Terry Southern, etc.
     A week on the black power movement, perhaps featuring the writing of George Jackson and.or Eldridge Cleaver.
    Another week on the Black Arts movement and Leroi Joes/Amiri Baraka, Nikki Giovanni, and Sonya Sanchez.
     A week on the student movement, where I hope to be able to screen portions of some of the remarkable documentary films about the times (like Berkeley in the Sixites).
     A week on the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968.
     The Yippie movement.
     At least 2 weeks on music--Bob Dylan, the psychedelic movement and Haight-Ashbury, Woodstock, music and black pride in Marvin Gaye, James Brown, Motown.

    It is easy to see that a semester is sufficient only to scratch the surface of this decade. Students will choose one of our topics upon which to write their final paper or do their final oral exam. So on at least one of these topics the individual student will develop some expertise and some depth of understanding.
     More links, schedule of reading, and rambling observations to follow.