This module is designed to explore a broad range of contemporary (new millenium) fiction (Seminar 1), and to study in greater depth the oeuvre of a key author, Zadie Smith, whose bestselling writings have received much critical acclaim (seminar 2).
Seminar 1 Contemporary Fiction will cover a range of contemporary fiction both by established and new authors, spanning issues relating to the aesthetics of the novel – realism(s), multiperpectivism, postcolonialism – , as well as topics such as class, gender, contemporary identities, or national politics (e.g., Brexit).
Among the core reading will be (please obtain your own copies!):
- Douglas Stuart, Shuggie Bain (2020; paperback ed. available)
- Granta 162, Best of Young British Novelists 5 (2023)
A Moodle course will be available with additional material.
Seminar 2 on the Writings of Zadie Smith will allow us to investigate a number of Smith’s texts, both fiction and some non-fiction (essays), as they navigate, above all, London as ‘post-ethnic’ British capital and as the site of diverse lives, cultures, and identities. They do so in often innovative and multifacetted ways that especially merit close reading and analysis.
Among the texts we will study (hence mandatory reading!) are her novels/short story:
- White Teeth (2000)
- NW (2012)
- “The Embassy of Cambodia” (2013) (https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/02/11/the-embassy-of-cambodia)
- The Fraud (announced for September 2023)
Please obtain your own copies. A Moodle course will be available for additional materials. |
