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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures : English Literature

Postgraduate Course: Contemporary American Fiction (ENLI11022)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Literatures, Languages and Cultures CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course is not a survey of recent American fiction, but rather an examination of particular novels in the context of ideas about postmodernism. The aim of the course is partly to assess the value (or otherwise) of postmodernism as a way to think about American fiction and culture. Some reading in postmodern theory is essential, although no prior knowledge is assumed. By studying the novels of nine different writers, the course also interrogates what it means to be ¿American¿ in the contemporary period, and scrutinizes the relationship between the novels¿ social politics and the issue of aesthetic merit.

Course description This course is not a survey of recent American fiction, but rather an examination of particular novels in the context of ideas about postmodernism. The aim of the course is partly to assess the value (or otherwise) of postmodernism as a way to think about American fiction and culture. Some reading in postmodern theory is essential, although no prior knowledge is assumed. By studying the novels of nine different writers, the course also interrogates what it means to be ¿American¿ in the contemporary period, and scrutinizes the relationship between the novels¿ social politics and the issue of aesthetic merit.

Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Additional Costs Purchase of essential texts as required.
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Will have acquired a good close textual knowledge of nine radically different recent American novels
  2. Have a knowledge of how these novels are situated in terms of arguments about American cultural politics (especially the heterogeneity of American society)
  3. Will have some understanding of contemporary debates and politics and aesthetics as those debates are given a focus by recent American fiction. The successful student will also have acquired transferable skills that are integral to this course
Reading List
E. L. Doctorow, Ragtime.

Joan Didion, Play It As It Lays

Bobbie Ann Mason, In Country

Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping

David Foster Wallace, The Pale King

Don DeLillo, Zero K

Sherman Alexie, The Lone Ranger and Tonto.

Jennifer Egan, A Visit from the Goon Squad

Jeffrey Eugenides, The Virgin Suicides.






Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Special Arrangements Postgraduate version of ENLI10172
KeywordsCAF
Contacts
Course organiserDr Ken Millard
Tel: (0131 6)50 8304
Email: K.Millard@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMiss Kara McCormack
Tel: (0131 6)50 3030
Email: Kara.McCormack@ed.ac.uk
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