LIT2081-0001 - Spring 2025 - Lasky

In this course, we will survey a broad range of literature from WWII to our present moment. We will read one novel, along with a diverse assortment of short stories, drama, and poetry, thinking through the different ways writers approach these genres, and sometimes break down genre conventions, and to what effect these decisions are made.

What is the relationship between aesthetics and politics? What constitutes a self, and how is selfhood and identity explored in contemporary literature? What distinguishes the literature of our present moment from the literature of the past? What is the function of literature in an individual’s life and, beyond that, in a larger context, what is the function of literature in relation to a community, even a national identity or identities? These are only a few of the questions this course hopes to consider. To deepen and complicate our discussions of the primary readings, we will also read some works of literary criticism, literary theory, and interviews to better understand the ways in which authors think about and approach their own works.