The Novel Today (Fall)

Discuss major new work by today’s top writers, including emerging novelists, award-winners, and established favorites, all of whom are central to today's cultural conversation. We will investigate a variety of inventive narrative strategies, explore the psychology of numerous fascinating characters, and examine important topics within a context of changing times, changing lives and a changing world.  Together we will explore: a catty philosophy teacher and his loving/annoying mother in war torn Beirut; integrity and its opposite in a Beaux Arts apartment house in  Nazi occupied Belgium; a global epic featuring a pair of lonely young Indians and the families that shape their lives; two couples and points of no return during a harsh winter in England; a young expat couple struggle to find the perfect life in 21^st century Berlin; a complicated college love triangle that takes decades to resolve; an angel holds vigil at the deathbed of  an oil tycoon; a family curse in Nigeria; an unhappy An Afghani family and the American dream.

Readings: George Saunders, Virgil; Oyinkan Braithwaite, Cursed Daughters; Patmeena Sabit, Good People; Kiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny; Andrew Miller, The Land in Winter; Alice Austen, 33 Place Brugmann; Lily Kind, Heart the Lover; Rabih Alameddine, The True Story of Raja the Gullible (and His Mother); Ben Markovits, The Rest of our Lives; Vincenzo Latronico, Perfection.

Students should read Perfection for the first class.
Continuing Education Units (CEU) : 0

You'll walk away with

• Increased cultural literacy, including intercultural knowledge and competence
• An understanding of current contemporary fiction, including its themes, meanings, and historical and cultural contexts

Ideal for

• The curious and creative
• Professionals who use critical thinking