Slumdogs and Millionaires: Fictions of Globalization

In this course we will explore the rich and still growing body of creative writing addressing the processes (cultural, social, and economic) we now know as globalization. Viewing English as a global literary language, we will read both established and lesser-known authors to examine their sense of globalization's human impact. Special attention will be paid to literary representations of migration, and to certain narratives of self-making and economic possibility shared by fictional, cinematic, and "official" accounts of the recent past. Authors will include V.S. Naipaul, Jamaica Kincaid, Amitav Ghosh, R. Zamora Linmark, Kiren Desai, Aravind Adiga, and Monica Ali.