ENGL475 Postmodern Literature

The purpose of this class is to survey the many varieties of postmodern and related avant-garde literature of our period. We will focus on fiction, and will also be looking at some theoretical accounts of postmodernism, the postmodern condition, textuality, and issues of identity. The course is designed to feature significant precursors, major figures, interesting offshoots, and new directions in postmodern writing. We will begin with an encounter with the work of Jorge Luis Borges and go on to read works by Samuel Beckett, Vladimir Nabokov, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Anna Kavan, Maurice Blanchot, William Burroughs, John Hawkes, Robert Coover, Donald Barthelme, William Gass, Margaret Atwood, Ishmael Reed, Leslie Marmon Silko, Jeanette Winterson, Salman Rushdie, and Angela Carter. Requirements: Two papers (8 pp), take home final, various short assignments.

Section(s):
0101 -  Brian Richardson