This course explores American fiction of recent years. The novels and short stories we read will take up many thematic concerns yet they all share a peculiar characteristic, which is that they’re weird. None are what would be called “realistic” fiction, yet they’re not quite fantasy, science fiction, horror, or any other widely recognized genre. Many of the novels and short stories share another characteristic, which is an engagement with popular media, including social media, television, and film. Over the course of the semester we’ll develop interpretative strategies for these weird texts, make connections between them and their intertexts, and piece together the explicit and implicit arguments these stories make about our world.
- Teacher: Mark Sample