For my part of the A Level course we’ll be studying American Literature (1880-1940) for Component 02: Comparative and Contextual Study . Attached is an example past paper so you can see what it looks like.
As you can see, there are two parts to this exam:
-One question on an unseen extract
-One question in which you compare two texts
Some useful preparation would be to research the history of this period so that you have a good understanding of the context in which authors are writing.
Below are just some of the novels that fall within the timeframe of Component 02: Comparative and Contextual Study. We will begin with The Great Gatsby, so you may want to start with that.
The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James (1880)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain (1884)
The Turn of the Screw, Henry James (1889)
The Awakening, Kate Chopin (1899)
The Wings of the Dove, Henry James (1902)
The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton (1905)
Ethan Frome, Edith Wharton (1911)
The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1925)
A Farewell to Arms, Ernest Hemingway (1929)
Tender is the Night, F. Scott Fitzgerald (1934)
The Grapes of Wrath, John Steinbeck (1939)
For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway (1940)