Race and the Contemporary Novel

In this course students will learn how contemporary literature reflects the many transformations to and of race that have taken place in the United States over the past few decades. From the Civil Rights movement to mass migration, to the election of the first Black president, to overseas military interventions, our social and political reality is characterized by both racial progress and widening inequalities. Literature has long held a mirror up to society to reflect our deepest fears and desires. But can literature today keep up with how much and how rapidly things are changing? We will examine how Black, Asian, Latine, and/or Indigenous writers develop innovative literary techniques to express the complexity of our racial reality. We will explore various genres and forms including speculative fiction (SF), New Weird, autofiction, metafiction, New Black Horror, racial satire, and/or the racial gothic. 3hrs. sem. (REC)