The American Novel Since 1945

In "The American Novel Since 1945" students study a wide range of American novels from 1945 to the present. The course traces formal and thematic developments of the novel in this period, focusing on the relationship between writers and readers, publishing conditions, innovations in narrative form, fiction’s engagement with history, and the changing place of literature in American culture. Readings include works by Richard Wright, Flannery O'Connor, Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, J. D. Salinger, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth, Maxine Hong Kingston, Toni Morrison, Marilynne Robinson, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, Edward P. Jones, and a contemporary novel chosen by the students.