Required Texts:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah (2013)
Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being (2013)
Ben Lerner, 10:04 (2014)
Jonathan Franzen, Purity (2015)
Jarett Kobek, I Hate the Internet (2016)
*All novels are available through our awesome local bookstore Subterranean Books, just a short walk from campus.
Readings with the abbreviation (BB) can be found on Blackboard.
Readings with an asterisk * indicate born-digital literature.
WEEK 1
T 8/29
Introductions; big questions & hypotheses
Th 8/31
*Jennifer Egan, “Black Box”
(Read New Yorker version and @NYerFiction version)
WEEK 2
*The selfie and self-conscious metafiction; the circulation of language; archives and memory*
T 9/5
Ben Lerner, “The Golden Vanity”
Ben Lerner, 10:04, Part One – Two
Th 9/7
Ben Lerner, 10:04, Part Two – Three
WEEK 3
*The corporatized web; sex and gender online; possibilities of social (network) protest*
T 9/12
Ben Lerner, 10:04, Part Four – end
Th 9/14
José Van Dijck, The Culture of Connectivity (BB)
*Jordan Magnuson, “Loneliness”
WEEK 4
T 9/19
Jarett Kobek, I Hate the Internet, Ch. 1-13
*Jason Nelson, “i made this. you play this. we are enemies”
Th 9/21
Jarett Kobek, I Hate the Internet, Ch. 14-21
WEEK 5
T 9/26
Jarett Kobek, I Hate the Internet, Ch. 22-end
Th 9/28
*Teju Cole, “Hafiz,” “Seven short stories about drones,” “A Piece of the Wall”
WEEK 6
*Global networks; the email epistolary; footnotes and information overload*
T 10/3
FIRST PAPER DUE
Tao Lin, “Relationship Story”
Mira Gonzalez, excerpts from i will never be beautiful enough to make us beautiful together (excerpt 1; excerpt 2)
*Anna Anthropy, “Queers in Love at the End of the World”
Th 10/5
Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being, p.1-82
WEEK 7
T 10/10
Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being, p.83-183
Th 10/12
Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being, p.184-259
WEEK 8
T 10/17
FALL BREAK
Th 10/19
Ruth Ozeki, A Tale for the Time Being, p.260-end
Criticism and Theory: Alexander Manshel, “The Rise of the Recent Historical Novel”
WEEK 9
Blogs and reading communities; digitized race; the return of realism?
T 10/24
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah, Ch. 1-6
Th 10/26
NO CLASS
WEEK 10
T 10/31
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah, Ch. 7-22
Th 11/2
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah, Ch. 23-30
WEEK 11
T 11/7
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah, Ch. 31-41
Th 11/9
NO CLASS
WEEK 12
Privacy and surveillance; technophobia; white male anxiety
T 11/14
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah, Ch. 41-end
Th 11/16
Jonathan Franzen, Purity, p.1-77
WEEK 13
T 11/21
SECOND PAPER DUE
Jonathan Franzen, Purity, p.78-177
Th 11/23
THANKSGIVING BREAK
WEEK 14
T 11/28
Jonathan Franzen, Purity, p.178-333
*Ed Summers, @congressedits
*Mark Sample, @NSA_PRISMbot
*James O’Malley, @TrumpsAlert
Th 11/30
Jonathan Franzen, Purity, p.334-401
WEEK 15
T 12/5
TOPIC PROPOSALS DUE
Jonathan Franzen, Purity, p.402-535
Th 12/7
Jonathan Franzen, Purity, p.536-end
Conclusions & celebrations
WEEK 16
F 12/15
FINAL PROJECT DUE
American Fiction in the Social Media Age 