LITR232

(Formerly LITR 240) A survey of the modern American novel as it developed over the past century. Once considered a frivolous form of entertainment, the novel has supplanted poetry as perhaps the premier literary form of the 20th Century. At the same time, some say the novel is dying. How can both be true? Is either? What is it about long prose works of fiction that speaks to us? How have the various literary, philosophical, intellectual, social, and political events of the century changed this durable genre? The course will consider a variety of novels, but will focus on how the novelists created and responded to literary movements over the 20th century, from the Progressive age to Modernism, Postmodernism, and beyond. While the reading list will frequently change, students will encounter a variety of writers, including William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Thomas Pynchon, and Toni Morrison.