Course Description:
The objective of this course is not only to introduce undergraduate students to the major works of fiction, but also to guide them to a critical survey and more in-depth understanding of prose fiction since the 19th century, with an emphasis on modern and contemporary novels and short stories. This class, therefore, is not exactly an entry-level, introductory course on fiction. Participants of this course are expected to aim higher than learning the basics in this filed, even though we’ll begin with the basics at the start of the semester. The general term “fiction” here can include novels as well as short stories, and both will be our objects of study. Through our readings of the selected texts, we expect that students come to grasp with some of the general characteristics of modern and/or contemporary fiction, in addition to their interpretations of individual works.

In the first half of the semester, we’ll briefly introduce the historical background of the rise of the novel (as a genre) and situate modern fiction in the context in which it emerged as what came after and broke away from the realist tradition. The first part of the course will be focused mainly on short stories, which presumably are easier for undergraduates (in terms of length, at least), before we deal with novels later in the semester. Our approaches will be primarily based on our close readings of the texts themselves (as opposed to, for instance, the biographical information or the historical contexts), although different frameworks of interpretation are welcome after we gain familiarity with the texts. To cover as many novels as possible, the teacher will ask students to choose one novel from a short list and do a formal presentation on the chosen novel toward the end of the semester.