English 90at. The Art of the Real

Instructor: Stephanie DeGooyer
Wednesdays, 3:00-5:00 pm | Location: Barker 218
Enrollment: Limited to 15 students

This class will examine literature from the eighteenth century to contemporary era in order understand what makes a work of art or story ‘real.’ Is there really such a thing as truth, transparency, or evidence in fiction? Why do we want – or do we want – art to appear real? How does one go about representing reality? Why would we study fiction in order to understand real-world political, economic, and social problems? The first half of the class will primarily investigate formal and social realism in the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century novel, with some attention to art. In the second half of the course we will consider modern and contemporary varieties of realism such as cinéma vérité, direct cinema, affectless or hysterical realism, and autofiction.

Primary texts may include Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, George Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, and Zadie Smith’s NW (as well as William Greaves’ film symbiotaxiplasm). We will also read critical essays and shorter excerpts by Erich Auerbach, Roland Barthes, Teju Cole, Catherine Gallagher, Karl Ove Knausgård, Tao Lin, György Lukács, David Shields, Ian Watt, and Alex Woloch.