Instructor: Schiff
Thursday 9:30 AM – 12:20 PM
An exploration of major American writers and their fiction from 1960 until 2025, weighted more toward the late twentieth century than the present, with interest in how the writing of those years reflects, engages with, and somehow leads us to the contemporary. Although literary trends and tastes have evolved significantly since the Sixties, what issues, themes, and questions persist, and what is new? Writers will be determined in December, with some assistance from a student survey, but will likely include: Percival Everett (James or Erasure), Jhumpa Lahiri (Unaccustomed Earth), Cormac McCarthy (The Road), Toni Morrison (Song of Solomon), Marilynne Robinson (Housekeeping), Philip Roth, Jane Smiley (A Thousand Acres), John Updike (Rabbit, Run or another Rabbit novel), and quite a few others.