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Introduction to Fiction (213-0-01)

Instructors

Jules D Law

Kelly E Wisecup

Meeting Info

University Hall 102: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

A human "monster," stitched together out of disparate body parts. An urban community of Indigenous peoples, all with different experiences and stories. A borderland, bisected by checkpoints and border crossings. This course examines works of fiction that engage with—and embody--questions of pieces, fragments, and wholes in order to question what makes a human, a family, and a community. Along the way, we'll encounter contested frontiers, stories that are at once simple and tangled, and characters who feel monstrous and yet somehow whole.

Teaching Method

Two lectures per week; one required discussion-section per week.

Evaluation Method

2 papers, 1 exam, postings and class participation.

Class Materials (Required)

Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (Penguin Classics, 2004), ISBN 9780141439471.
Justin Torres, We The Animals (2012), ISBN 9780547844190.
Yuri Herrera, Signs Preceding the End of the World (2009), ISBN 9781908276421.
Tommy Orange, There There (Vintage), ISBN 9780525436140.
Selections from: Coco (Pixar); Popol Vuh (The Sacred Book of the Maya K'iche'); Peter Pan.

Texts will be available at: Norris Bookstore.

Class Attributes

Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area

Associated Classes

DIS - University Library 4722: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

DIS - University Hall 412: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

DIS - University Library 4722: Fri 12:00PM - 12:50PM

DIS - University Library 4670: Fri 12:00PM - 12:50PM

DIS - University Hall 418: Fri 11:00AM - 11:50AM

DIS - University Hall 218: Fri 12:00PM - 12:50PM