US Fiction and the Literary Imagination: An Introduction to Literary Analysis [Durham, NC]
**This course is in-person only. There is no virtual component. Participants must be age 21+
Full Tuition: $320 — Scholarship options are available in the drop-down enrollment menu for you to self-select.
Instructor: Andrews | 5 Weeks | Sundays | January 7 - February 4 | 6:00 - 8:00 PM ET | IN-PERSON: 719 N. Mangum St., Durham, NC
Over the course of five weeks, we’ll read works of short fiction from a range of literary periods in the US, beginning in the mid-19th century and continuing to the present. But rather than assume that the US is a coherent place or that “American literature” is a coherent genre with a coherent set of features and techniques, we’ll be questioning our key terms, and trying to think about it as philosophically as we can. What is fiction? What is the US, for that matter? And, most importantly, what is the relationship between fiction and the real world we live in? I will try to convince you that fiction is not (only) an escape from reality, but is instead central to the very constitution of reality. The world we live in is built on fictions that serve as the very basis of our knowledge, society, and behaviors–from fictions of law and taxonomy, to money, to gender, to morality. I think that together, we’ll find that literary fiction can help us see the fictions that constitute our world, and more importantly, that it can be the grounds for creating new ones. When I say it’s not (only) an escape from reality, I mean to say, it may in fact be the escape from the real and oppressive structures that shape our lives in ways that are often antagonistic to our flourishing and the condition of possibility for a future we haven’t yet imagined. Also: we’ll just read some really good stories. Authors will include: Herman Melville, Kate Chopin, Charles W. Chestnutt, Toni Cade Bambara, Zora Neale Hurston, Toni Morrison, Gwendolyn Brooks, Sylvia Plath, Ursula Le Guin, Ted Chiang, and N. K. Jemisin.
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Scholarships: We are currently able to offer three full scholarships per class. Our full scholarship tier is a nonrefundable offering, limited to one per student per month. Because our scholarship funding is limited, selecting multiple full scholarships in a single month will result in disenrollment from all classes. If the scholarship tier you need is sold out please email us directly, and we will add you to a waitlist and notify you if additional scholarships become available. Please see our FAQ for more information, including installment plans and refund policy.