Welcome to the Modern Novel...caution before we proceed: consider the title of this course carefully! You will be expected to read somewhere in the neighborhood of six to eight novels this semester. If you abhor novel reading, this is probably not the best fit for you and you may want to consider one of our other junior-senior elective courses.
Novel is a junior-senior level semester-long course in which we read and talk, read and think, and then read and talk and then and write...you get it! We're going to look at contemporary trends in fiction, especially young adult fiction. (Have you read the wildly popular The Fault in Our Stars yet? No worries...we'll read it together! Will the Cinderella-esque vampire trend ever end (no offense to you Twi-hards!) Is the Zombie Apocalypse upon us (Abe Lincoln says yes)? What's up with all of the dystopian-our world as we know it has imploded-novels?)
We'll do the usual thematic and character analysis, but in this junior-level course, we take it to the next level. Might this trend of dystopian fiction (think The Hunger Games, Divergent, Unwind) be a reflection of our world? Years long wars and a struggling economy just might have an impact on the type of fiction being written.
To be successful in this class you need to be willing to read...and think...and talk--so pretty much anybody who is willing to put forth the effort will do well. And, you'll have some choice, at times, in what we read; so if you've been saving your pennies to purchase a favorite novel, you just may be able to use it in class!
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