English 125E

Other Readings and Media

S. Beckett: Malone Dies; D. DeLillo: The Names; C. McCarthy: Child of God; Ian MsEwan: Atonement; D. Mitchell: Cloud Atlas; V. Nabokov: Pale Fire; E. O'Brien: Down by the River; T. Pynchon: V.; P. Roth: American Pastoral; M. Spark: The Driver's Seat

Description

An exploration of the novels listed above, all of them written in the second half of the twentieth century. The course will move through these texts inductively, without any particular preconceptions or thematic axes to grind, in an effort both to understand these writers on their own terms and to discover among them commonly shared concerns and practices. There will be two shorter papers, a midterm, and a final exam.