The American Novel since 1945

Undergraduate

This lecture course offers an introduction to the American novel from 1945 to the present, tracing how writers have responded to the cultural, aesthetic, and political transformations of the past eight decades. Beginning in the aftermath of World War II, we explore how novelists interrogate ideas of identity, memory, and nation while experimenting with new forms of storytelling. Readings move through major literary movements—including postwar realism, postmodernism, minoritarian and diasporic fiction, and emergent contemporary genres—to consider how the novel continually reinvents itself in response to shifting histories. Across the semester, we consider questions including: What does it mean to represent “America”? How do novelists challenge inherited narratives about belonging, power, and community? And how have authors expanded the possibilities of the novel as a form? Through lectures, close reading exercises, short critical responses, and contextual study, students develop skills in literary analysis while gaining a broad understanding of the American novel’s evolution since 1945. The selection of the final novel we read this semester is made by the students in the class. WR , HU 0 Course cr HTBA