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: an undocumented immigrant from Ecuador who negotiates the deeps and the shallows of Queens and Harvard; the power of art and the wonder of friendship in overcoming the dark side in a small coastal town in Sweden; a drug overdose, St. Vincent’s Hospital, and a round robin of connections in New York City; deep ethical questions about fault and responsibility and the fragility of upper-middle-class life in Chesapeake Bay: an artist struggling in the shadow of Hollywood’s Dream Factory; first loves, lost innocence and the deep bond between father and son on the California coast.
Readings: Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, Catalina; Fredrick Backman, My Friends; Joan Silber, Mercy; John Andrew Porter, The Imagined Life: Danzy Senna, Colored Television; Bruce Holsinger, Culpability. Students should read Catalina, by Karla Cornejo Villavicencio 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
