ENGL 328 - Contemporary Fiction:Not Realism

Institution:

Trinity College

Subject:

Description:

Two competing aesthetics have dominated American and English fiction during the past century-realism, and everything that is not realism, from the rigorously avant-garde or "post-modern" to pop sci-fi and fantasy and "high-low" hybrids. In much of the rest of the world, realism is regarded as an outdated or minor form. In class we will examine some of the reasons for this split, though our readings will be almost entirely of non-realist works that explore and interrogate the imaginative, verbal and formal possibilities of fictional narrative. We will begin with some writings by still influential precursors and writers of the past century (selections from among Kafka, Beckett, Borges, Bernhard, Nabokov, Calvino, Dick) to contemporary writers such as Coetzee, Murakami, Rushdie, Bolano, Aira, Foster Wallace, Markson, and younger writers such as Junot Diaz, Tom McCarthy, Marissa Pessl, and Rivka Galchen. There will be a selection of critical readings as well. Recommended for creative writing students and enthusiastic readers of fiction from other disciplines. For English majors, this course satisfies the requirement of an elective. 1.00 units, Lecture

Credits:

1.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.Trincoll.edu

Phone Number:

(860) 297-2000

Regional Accreditation:

New England Association of Schools and Colleges

Calendar System:

Semester

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