Course details
Name: ENGL - 563
Title: RECENT AMERICAN FICTION
Section: 01
Semester: Spring - 2022
Credits: 3
Description:
We will survey well-received recent novels or collections of stories written by a diverse set of writers and in a wide range of genres. As we do so, we’ll situate these texts within the broader landscape of post-1990s American literature, within which critics have identified several emergent strains: ongoing conversation with American modernist and postmodernist aesthetics, a revitalized interest in realism, a tonal shift from irony to sincerity, highbrow literature mixing with other genres, and many more. Second, we will sharpen our close reading skills by taking a narratological approach to these works, thinking about the formal techniques on display and considering the text’s forms of organization while developing a vocabulary for doing so effectively. Finally, we will think about the themes each work engages with that have made them resonate with contemporary audiences. The works on our syllabus range from imagining a dystopian future to reaching into the antebellum South; many are set in contemporary America but in communities that do not receive mainstream attention, while others focus on Manhattan after 9/11. One way to think of it the texts as a broad inquiry into what “recent America” might be, and to ask the other important related questions (how did we get here? Where are we going?).
Authors may include Colson Whitehead, Rachel Kushner, Gary Shytengart, Jenny Offill, Jesmyn Ward, Edward Jones, Tommy Orange, Marilynne Robinson, Laila Lalami, David Foster Wallace, Jennifer Egan, Jonathan Franzen, or other notable recent writers.
Last updated on 2021-09-25 By
Gonzalez Jeffrey (gonzalezje)
Schedule: Wednesday From 8:15 pm To 10:45 pm
Graduation requirements:
- Any Literature (1e)
- Genre Study (Fiction)
- Other American (TE 1d)
- Post-1900 (1d)
- Ethnic Studies (3b)
- Women and Gender Studies (3c)
- Graduate (BA/MA)
Teaching Faculty: Gonzalez Jeffrey (gonzalezje)
Is course canceled: No