Course Description

TRUTH IN FICTION

This course will focus on the relationship between “truth” and written “fiction.” Obviously, the word “fiction” suggests that a subject is not factual—that it is not “non-fiction” or “true.” However, the history of literature is in many senses a history of what we as a culture perceive and have perceived “Truth” to be. In the past, literature has been used to tell us who we are, where we come from, what we believe and how we should act. In more recent years, it has challenged the way we imagine ourselves, the way we imagine our world, the way we envision the future and, in some cases, the way we imagine our own histories. This class will investigate the kinds of “truth” available in the “untrue” art of fiction while also challenging us to reconsider the category of “fiction” itself. Students will complete two written essays, eight one-page, single-spaced journal entries, and a mid-term exam.




REQUIRED TEXTS (This list is subject to change)

WHITE NOISE, by Don DeLillo
EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, by Jonathan Safran Foer
THE COLLECTOR, by John Fowles
THE ROAD, by Cormac McCarthy
LIFE OF PI, by Yan Martel
SLAUGHTERHOUSE-FIVE, by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
UNCLE TOM'S CHILDREN, by Richard Wright

* A course packet will also be available at Universal Copies before the beginning of the Spring semester