Modern & Contemporary Fiction
The primary focus of this course will be narratology, the close examination of the role of the narrator of each work. All the works present some form of unreliable narrator (liar, insane, uncertain, confused, etc.). Class readings and discussion will focus on the form and function of such untrustworthy narrators. At the core of the narratives is a relationship, usually between a man and a woman. Our secondary focus will be on the role of gender in the nature of these relationships. The difference, for example, in the reportage from a feminine vs. a masculine point of view; the role of men vs. the role of women in relationships, especially in relation to the progression of the twentieth and twentieth-first centuries; the importance of gender on the narrator’s experience of how she or he conveys that experience; the ways in which the narrator is perceived by others (both characters and readers) in relation to gender; use of feminist critical perspective in viewing these relationships. This course is also cross-listed as ENGL4440.
Grade Basis: AL
Credit hours: 3.0
Lecture hours: 3.0