Course details
Name: ENGL - 338
Title: RECENT AMERICAN FICTION 1990 - PRESENT
Section: 01
Semester: Spring - 2019
Credits: 3
Description:
This is a hybrid online course. We will meet in person on Mondays and then conduct asynchronous (this means you do not have to be available at a specified time) online activities later in the week.
In this course we will explore a selection of fiction writing from the late 20th century and early 21st century. We will consider a variety of themes, such as Cold War conformity and the individual, immigration, and transgressions of norms. Our readings particularly emphasize issues of race, gender, class, and sexuality. We will consider a variety of genres. A common theme in all our readings is the construction of “reality.” In these texts the “real world” may not be what it seems, and characters may have different presentations of themselves in public versus in private, and at the extreme, even take on alter egos. We will explore how these authors use such themes of subterfuge and deception to comment on our social order and get us to question our “common-sense” understandings of society as actually based in particular assumptions and adherence to norms. Authors we consider may include Ernesto Quinonez, Percival Everett, Chang-rae Lee, Ruth Ozeki, and others.
Schedule: Monday From 4:00 pm To 5:15 pm
Graduation requirements:
- Any Literature (1e)
- Genre Study (Fiction)
- Other American (TE 1d)
- Ethnic Studies (3b)
- Class Issues (3d)
Teaching Faculty: Cheng Emily (chenge)
Is course canceled: No