21L.003-2
Reading Fiction
Spring 2007
Reading Fiction is designed to sharpen your skills as a critical reader. As we explore both short stories and novels focusing on the theme of "the city in literature," we will learn about the various elements that shape the way we read texts - structure, narrative voice, character development, novelistic experimentation, historical and political contexts and reader response.
Readings
- Baldwin, James. Go Tell it on the Mountain . New York, NY: Penguin, 2001. ISBN: 9780141185910.
- Díaz, Junot. Drown . New York, NY: Riverhead Trade, 1997. ISBN: 9781573226066.
- Dostoevsky, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment . New York, NY: Pocket Books, 2004. ISBN: 9780743487634.
- Joyce, James. The Dubliners . New York, NY: Penguin, 2000. ISBN: 9780141182452.
- Kincaid, Jamaica. Lucy . New York, NY: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2002. ISBN: 9780374527358.
- Lahiri, Jhumpa. Interpreter of Maladies . New York, NY: Mariner Books, 1999. ISBN: 9780395927205.
- Morrison, Toni. Jazz . New York, NY: Knopf, 1992. ISBN: 9780679411673.
- Roy, Arundhati. The God of Small Things . New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1998. ISBN: 9780060977498.
- Wharton, Edith. The House of Mirth . New York, NY: Dover Publications, 2002. ISBN: 9780486420493.
- SES #: 1 · ASSIGNED READINGS: (no readings)
- SES #: 2-3 · ASSIGNED READINGS: Wharton, The House of Mirth
- SES #: 4-5 · ASSIGNED READINGS: Lahiri, Interpreter of Maladies
- SES #: 6-7 · ASSIGNED READINGS: Morrison, Jazz
- SES #: 8 · ASSIGNED READINGS: Baldwin, Go Tell it on the Mountain, pp. 1-101
- SES #: 9 · ASSIGNED READINGS: Go Tell it on the Mountain , pp. 102-176
- SES #: 10 · ASSIGNED READINGS: Go Tell it on the Mountain, pp. 177-end
- SES #: 14-15 · ASSIGNED READINGS: Kincaid, Lucy
- SES #: 22 · ASSIGNED READINGS: Roy, The God of Small Things, pp. 3-147
- SES #: 23 · ASSIGNED READINGS: The God of Small Things, pp. 148-253
- SES #: 24 · ASSIGNED READINGS: The God of Small Things, pp. 254-end
- SES #: 25 · ASSIGNED READINGS: Díaz. Drown : “Ysrael,” “Fiesta, 1980,” “Drown”
- Drown : “Boyfriend,” “How to Date a Browngirl, Blackgirl, Whitegirl, or Halfie,” “Negocios”
Fall 2006
This course introduces prose narrative, both short stories and the novel. It examines the construction of narrative and the analysis of literary response.
Readings
- Scott, Sir Walter. “The Highland Window.” In Chronicles of the Canongate . New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN: 9780140439892.
- Woolf, Virginia. To the Lighthouse . Any edition.
- MacLeod, Alistair. No Great Mischief . Any edition.
- SES #: 2 · TOPICS: Jane Austen · READINGS: Volume I of Northanger Abbey.
- SES #: 6-7 · TOPICS: Sir Walter Scott · READINGS: The Highland Window .
- SES #: 9-11 · TOPICS: Mary Shelley · READINGS: Frankenstein .
- SES #: 12 · TOPICS: Herman Melville · READINGS: Chapters 1-18 of Typee .
- SES #: 15-16 · TOPICS: Gustave Flaubert · READINGS: “A Simple heart.”
- SES #: 17-19 · TOPICS: Kate Chopin · READINGS: The Awakening .
- SES #: 20-22 · TOPICS: Virginia Woolf · READINGS: “The Window.” In To the Lighthouse .
- SES #: 25-26 · TOPICS: Alistair MacLeod · READINGS: No Great Mischief.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗Historical OpenCourseWare
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2007
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.