Contemporary literature: british novels now

Lectures: 2 sessions / week, 1.5 hours / session

What is Britain now? Its metropolises are increasingly multicultural. Its hold over its distant colonies is a thing of the past. Its sway within the global political arena is weak. Its command over Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland is broken or threatened. What have novelists made of all this? What are they writing as the old empire fades away and as new social and political formations emerge? These are the questions that will concern us in this course. Our material will come from the Guardian newspaper's recent list of the best British, Irish, and commonwealth novels of the past 25 years, and will include JM Coetzee, Kazuo Ishiguro, Martin Amis, Margaret Atwood, Yann Martel, and Zadie Smith. Major contexts will be immigration and the multicultural metropolis, political devolution, post-industrialism and the EU, and the New American Empire.

This is a seminar, which means that much of our time will be spent speaking to one another about our common experience of reading fiction and wondering about how to make the best sense of it. My own goal is not to teach you some absolute and predetermined facts, but to figure out what knowledge you already have and to help you develop that in order to create more. To this end, I want you to view yourselves as active readers and seminar participants, and as people committed to improving their skills as readers and as writers. I will provide you with a set of tools (really, mental equipment) that will help make this all happen. Since much of our time will be spent in active debate and conversation, I will expect each student to behave professionally and respectfully in this setting, as well as in all communications that stem from your involvement in this course (i.e. online forums, emails, or study group activities).

Please see assignments for criteria and guidelines for your papers. The assignment will be broad enough to allow you to explore your specific ideas and interests, but will demand close analysis of short passages from the readings.

On the assigned due date bring one paper copy to class or to my mailbox by 5pm. I can only provide extensive commentary on your writing and argument - and I will - if I receive your materials on time. Late papers will also lose 1% (of the course total 100%) each working day; they should be brought to the main Literature office, during working hours, and dated by the administrative assistant.

Please read and understand the following policy statement: "Plagiarism - use of another's intellectual work without acknowledgement - is a serious offense." It is the policy of the Literature Faculty that students who plagiarize will receive an F in the subject, and that the instructor will forward the case to the Committee on Discipline. Full acknowledgement for all information obtained from sources outside the classroom must be clearly stated in all written work submitted. All ideas, arguments, and direct phrasings taken from someone else's work must be identified and properly footnoted. Quotations from other sources must be clearly marked as distinct from the student's own work. F For further guidance on the proper forms of attribution, consult the style guides available at MIT Writing and Communication Center and the MIT Academic Integrity.

Attendance in this class is mandatory. Provided I have been alerted, each student will be allowed two absences. As the third absence is reached the student will lose 1% (of the course total 100%) for each incident. Being late is a form of absence, and I will use my discretion to decide when a sufficient number of late arrivals becomes equivalent to one day of absence.

Please do not bring food, cell phones, or laptops to class. I will make an exception for your laptop if its use is class-related.

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