Instructor: Beth Bulm
Tuesday, 12:45-2:45pm | Location: TBD
Enrollment: Limited to 15 students
Course Site
This course addresses the genre of the “Harvard novel,” from Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! to Elif Batuman’s The Idiot and Zadie Smith’s On Beauty, in order to examine Harvard’s status and signification within the cultural imaginary. It brings together novels (and some films) where Harvard offers the narrative setting, supplies a character’s backstory, or even serves as a character in its own right. We will address themes of tradition, access, privilege, race, anxiety, competition, and canonicity.
In addition to serving as an introduction to 20th-21st century Anglo-American literature, this seminar is designed to offer students an opportunity to slow down and engage more reflectively with the meaning and substance of their time on campus. Lectures will explore narrative depictions of how Harvard experiences extend into broader society, and also thelarger trajectory of the individual’s post-collegiate life.
This course satisfies the “1900-2000 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.