SPRING 2007 HONORS COURSES

HONR 209Y Novels! Modern Fictions
Tuesday/Thursday, 12:30-1:45 p.m.
Dr. Sibbie O’Sullivan, Senior Lecturer in University Honors

British novelist D.H. Lawrence called the novel “the bright book of life,” and there’s something to what he said. No other art form encompasses the largeness of life the way the novel does. In this class we will investigate what some 20th century novels tell us about life in the modern world. We will read five novels and engage in deep discussion for each of them. Topics for discussion will undoubtedly cover the themes of war, love, power, style, and self, but many other issues are sure to come up since the novel mirrors virtually every aspect of human experience. Your experience of reading is fundamental to this course, and you are expected to think deeply about what each novel tells you, as well as how it tells you what it does; in other words, you are expected to respond to art.

This class is discussion driven, so attendance and participation are crucial and will be factored into your final grade. Written assignments are as follows: written questions for each novel unit; two short, formal essays, and a final exam. There might be short in-class writing as well.

The five novels will be chosen from the following list:
E.M. Forster, Howards End; Ernest Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms
J.D. Salinger, Catcher in the Rye; Carlos Fuentes, The Death of Artemio Cruz
Sue Miller; The Good Mother; Edith Wharton, House of Mirth
Ian McEwan, Atonement; Alain Robbe-Grillet, Jealousy
Kenzaburo Oe, A Personal Matter; Don DeLillo, White Noise
Elmore Leonard, Get Shorty; Albert Camus, The Stranger

CORE–Literature [HL]