Taught by professor Amy Hungerford, The American Novel Since 1945 offers an introduction to the fertile literary period that followed World War II. The course description reads:
In “The American Novel Since 1945” students will study a wide range of works from 1945 to the present. The course traces the formal and thematic developments of the novel in this period, focusing on the relationship between writers and readers, the conditions of publishing, innovations in the novel’s form, fiction’s engagement with history, and the changing place of literature in American culture. The reading list includes works by Richard Wright, Flannery O’Connor, Vladimir Nabokov, Jack Kerouac, J. D. Salinger, Thomas Pynchon, John Barth, Maxine Hong Kingston, Toni Morrison, Marilynne Robinson, Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth and Edward P. Jones. The course concludes with a contemporary novel chosen by the students in the class.
You can watch the 26 lectures from the course above, or find them on YouTube and iTunes (video – audio). To get more information about the course, including the syllabus, visit this Yale website.
The main texts used in this course include:
- Richard Wright, Black Boy (1945)
- Flannery O’Connor, Wise Blood (1949)
- Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita (1955)
- Jack Kerouac, On the Road (1957)
- J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey (1961)
- John Barth, Lost in the Funhouse (1963-68)
- Thomas Pynchon, The Crying of Lot 49 (1967)
- Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye (1970)
- Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior (1976)
- Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping (1980)
- Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian (1985)
- Philip Roth, The Human Stain (2000)
- Edward P. Jones, The Known World (2003)
- Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated (2002)
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I’m not sure I would agree with Professor Hungerford in that fictional art confronts the world in a much more ‘general’ sense to capture the ‘everyman’ view… specifics can tie a story together and lend the personal to be of universal hope, anguish or familiarity. Thank for a very nice intro to the course!
Excellent introduction to the course! Technology allowed me to listen/watch from my phone, while I covered house chores. I want in for that series! Thank you professor Hungerford.