As the official course description suggests, in this course we'll be delving into a range of American and British novels and short stories in order to, first and foremost, enjoy the richly-textured, deeply engrossing, and singularly challenging experiences only the process of reading fiction can offer. We’ll also be viewing a small selection of films of thematic and/or formal relevance to this exploration.

Our approach will be to experience and reflect on the complexity of reading as a practice, and "literature" as a particular (and peculiar) mode of meaning-making. As importantly, we'll consider the way that these different authors tackle the questions of individual worth and identity, communal belonging and violence, and national composition, decomposition, and recomposition which remain vitally important to us today.

Course requirements: Your final grade will be based on regular contribution to class discussion, GoPost reflections, and a number of writing assignments. Note that this is a "W" course, and as such will require you to produce 10-15 pages of graded, out-of-class writing, in the form of a longer paper with a required revision OR two or more short papers, likewise with revisions.


Books we’ll be reading:
Hammet, Dashiell. Red Harvest. 1929.
Faulkner, William. Light in August 1932.
Selby, Hubert Jr. Last Exit to Brooklyn 1964.
Whitehead, Colson. The Intuitionist. 1999.

Short selections may include:
Dagoberto Gilb
Toni Morrison
Flannery O’Connor
Samuel Beckett
JG Ballard
George Saunders
Raymond Carver
Bobbie Ann Mason
Richard Brautigan