ENGL 475: Postmodern Literature (Fall 2004)

"There is no substitute for a planned simulation." --Don Delillo, White Noise

No two surveys of postmodern literature will look alike, and this class is no exception. While we will read some important authors and some important books, our readings will in no way be comprehensive, or even necessarily representative of “postmodernism.” The centerpiece for the course, temporally and otherwise, will be the events of September 11, 2001. Whether 9/11 is deserving of such a pivotal position in our literary and artistic imaginations, whether it means the end of postmodernism, remains to be seen. Its image, however, will prove inescapable, from the cover of the longest work we will read, Don Delillo’s Underworld, to its afterimage in Art Spiegelman’s newly-published graphic novel In the Shadow of No Towers.