3.0

credits

Average Course Rating

This course is a brief survey of an enormous subject: the English-language novel in the 20th century. The first half of the course will explore the Modernist movement and the development of new fictional techniques in the 1920s; the second half of the course will focus on novels written after World War II. Though such a syllabus could easily include hundreds of books, this one is limited to half a dozen novels to prioritize quality of reading (i.e. close-reading) over quantity of reading. Class discussions will focus on historical context as well as technical craft discussion, with special attention to the evolving use of interiority, taboo subjects, and modern ideas of human psychology. There will also be frequent in-class writing exercises inspired by the texts on the syllabus. Our goal is to deepen our knowledge of the 20th century literary canon, sharpen our reading skills, and ultimately find creative inspiration for our own writing.