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 21st 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 husband and an unplanned road trip west; giving and receiving in a city called Golden.
Readings: George Saunders, Vigil; Oyinkan Braithwaite, Cursed Daughters; Allen Levi. Theo of Golden; Kiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny; Andrew Miller, The Land in Winter; Alice Austen, 33 Place Brugmann; Lily King, Heart the Lover; Rabih Alameddine, The True 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
Readings: George Saunders, Vigil; Oyinkan Braithwaite, Cursed Daughters; Allen Levi. Theo of Golden; Kiran Desai, The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny; Andrew Miller, The Land in Winter; Alice Austen, 33 Place Brugmann; Lily King, Heart the Lover; Rabih Alameddine, The True 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
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