$95.00
Instructor: Ida Rae Egli
Wednesdays, April 12 – May 17, 3:00 – 5:00 PM, Berger Center
6-week session, Cost: $95
Course Description:
California literature, like the state itself, is extraordinary and bold. Influenced by the concept of Manifest Destiny, early writers encouraged a unique California writing style named Sagebrush Literature. These early ideals of romanticism and optimism were upheld by later writers like Jack London, Gertrude Atherton, John Steinbeck, Wallace Stegner, Joan Didion and Isabel Allende.
Course Details:
California literature, like the state itself, is extraordinary and bold. Influenced by the concept of Manifest Destiny, writers like Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and Ina Coolbrith encouraged a unique early California writing style they labeled Sagebrush Literature.
This unique frontier literature was sidelined when the Transcontinental Railway System connecting East with West brought to the California market a barrage of eastern literature that steadily began to overwhelm the local book market. But California literary history would continue to be marked by its youth in the gold fields, its tendencies toward romanticism, inclusion, and cautious optimism. Writers like Jack London, Gertrude Atherton, John Steinbeck, Wallace Stegner, Joan Didion, Gary Snyder, and Isabel Allende have upheld in beautifully artistic literary works the early tradition that resounds with the ideals and images of our colorful frontier beginnings. Examining California literature is an endeavor of unique artistic pleasure.
Instructor Biography:
Ida Rae Egli, writer, editor, English instructor, has written two non-fiction books: No Rooms of Their Own: Women Writers of Early California, and Women of the Gold Rush. Her new book, a novel, is Krisanthi’s War: in Hitler’s in Greece. She has presented for Sierra Club, U. C. David, Orange County Festival of Women Authors. She was chair of S.R.J.C. English Department. Check her out at IdaRaeEgli.com or in person at this intriguing class.
