Special Topic: Difficult Novels, Uneasy Narratives
ENGL 393
Fall 2026
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01
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These are turbulent times, but they are not entirely unique. In this class, we, as writers, will consider how other writers have accommodated histories and experiences that often feel too overwhelming to describe. How have the techniques of fiction and nonfiction helped them to construct narratives that take into account the incoherence and confusion of political and personal events? We will be reading challenging works that seek to embrace complexity. We will write extensively, continually in class and outside of class. We will be asking ourselves how novels, plays, and nonfiction can both verbalize and quiet some of the questions we have all been asking as one inevitable occurrence seems to lead to the next in this world and in our lives. This is a course dedicated to rigorous reading and writing. Bring a notebook specifically for this class. You will be thoroughly immersed in literary exchanges. You will be asked to reckon with complex questions that spring from each literary work, and to set several books in conversation with each other to see what surprising, new dialogue emerges. This is a class deeply engaged in the ideas that spring from your own careful interpretations of the texts we read together. |
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
HA ENGL |
| Course Format: Seminar | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: ENGL292 OR ENGL296 OR ENGL339 OR ENGL342 OR ENGL325 OR ENGL326 |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Readings will include texts such as: Sophocles, ANTIGONE; Simone Weil, THE ILIAD, OR THE POEM OF FORCE; Jean Amery, AT THE MIND'S LIMIT; Han Kang, HUMAN ACTS; E.L. Doctorow, BOOK OF DANIEL; Toni Morrison, SONG OF SOLOMON; Susan Abulhawa, MORNINGS IN JENIN; Hanna Pylväinen, THE END OF DRUM-TIME; Lars Horn, VOICE OF THE FISH
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Examinations and Assignments:
A series of short responses to readings and 2 longer papers |
Additional Requirements and/or Comments:
Bring a notebook dedicated to this class. There will be extensive in-class writing. This course contributes to the fulfillment of the following ENGL major requirements:
CW path, CW requirement, CW 300-level course, CW elective. |
| Instructor(s): Mengiste,Maaza Times: ..T.... 08:50AM-11:40AM; Location: TBA |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 15 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 7 | | |
| Seats Available: 15 | GRAD: X | SR non-major: 0 | JR non-major: 0 | SO: 2 | FR: 1 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 0 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 0 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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