Detailed Schedule | Contemporary Novels

Week 1	Jun. 8	Introduction Reading John Updike, Rabbit, Run (1960)
Week 2	Jun. 15	Updike, Rabbit, Run Reading John Updike, Rabbit, Run (1960) Donald J. Greiner, "John Updike: The Literary Vermeer" (2010) Derek Wright, "Mapless Motion: Form and Space in Updike's Rabbit, Run" (1991) John Updike, The Paris Review interview (1968) John Updike and 1950s America (further reading) John Updike’s Archive: A Great Writer at Work Study questions: Consider the opening paragraphs of Rabbit, Run and then the closing paragraphs. What continuity do you find? What development or difference? What does Updike present to us in the novel in terms of its physical presence? in terms of content? in terms of the way that content is given? What do you think of Greiner's comparison of Updike to Vermeer and his suggestion that Updike is a verbal painter of the male domestic? Discussion leader: Ranjana Wangvipula
Week 3	Jun. 22	Rushdie, Midnight's Children Reading Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children (1980) Jean M. Kane, "The Migrant Intellectual and the Body of History: Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children" (1996)
Week 4	Jun. 29	Rushdie, Midnight's Children Reading Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children (1980) Discussion leader: Phacharawan Boonpromkul
Week 5	Jul. 6	Rushdie, Midnight's Children Reading Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children (1980)
Week 6	Jul. 13	Atwood, Alias Grace Reading Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace (1996) Subverting from Within: Margaret Atwood’s Alias Grace (student project) Margaret Atwood: Alias Grace (1996) (links to various resources on the novel, some obsolete) Guest lecturer: Chris Weagle
Week 7	Jul. 20	Atwood, Alias Grace Reading Margaret Atwood, Alias Grace (1996) The Trials of James McDermott and Grace Marks (Toronto Public Library Special Collections; online book viewer)
Week 8	Jul. 27	No class (Buddhist Lent)
Week 9	Aug. 3	Coetzee, Disgrace Reading J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace (1999) J. M. Coetzee with Peter Sacks, 8 November 2001 (29.56 min.) Final paper progress critique Discussion leader: Pruksapan Bantawtook
Week 10	Aug. 10	Coetzee, Disgrace Reading J. M. Coetzee, Disgrace (1999) Michael Gorra, "After the Fall" (1999; review of the novel, contains spoilers) Theo Tait, "Is the film of JM Coetzee's Booker-winner Disgrace a success?" (2009)
Week 11	Aug. 17	Banville, The Sea Reading John Banville, The Sea (2005; study guide)
Week 12	Aug. 24	Ghosh, Sea of Poppies Reading Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies (2008) Amitav Ghosh (official page) Test
Week 13	Aug. 31	Ghosh, Sea of Poppies Reading Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies (2008)
Week 14	Sep. 7	Final Paper Critique Suggestions to Graduate Students about Presentations
Week 15	Sep. 14	Ghosh, Sea of Poppies Reading Amitav Ghosh, Sea of Poppies (2008)
Week 16	Sep. 21	Review Final paper due 7–10 pp. MLA format "Some Matters of Form" by Yale University (writing guidelines; pdf file) Writing Prose (handbook on college writing, Yale University; pdf file) Sources and Citation at Dartmouth College (pdf file) Getting an A on an English Paper
Week 17	Sep. 28	No class (Final exams period: September 27–October 8, 2010)
Week 18	Oct. 5	Final Exam (8:30–11:30 a.m.)