ENGL 7670 Studies in Fiction
Am. Fic. and the Private Sphere
9:30–12:10 R
Miriam Clark
This course considers American fiction written between the end of World War II and the present. The texts we’ll read share a common focus on the private sphere—individual, family, and domestic life—and a common concern with how people articulate their needs and longings, how they see themselves in relation to the larger forces of history and culture.
We’ll read fiction by Mary McCarthy, Vladimir Nabokov, Walker Percy, Evan Connell, John Updike, Don DeLillo, Susan Minot, Andrea Lee, and Jhumpa Lahiri. We’ll also read some selections from twentieth century cultural history and recent cultural criticism in order to complement and illuminate the narrative texts as they touch on a wide range of subjects from moral introspection and spiritual longing to television, sex, and shopping.
Requirements: Two brief reports (one
on a topic, another on a critical article) and a seminar paper.