ENG 255 H THE NEW VANGUARD

In March 2018, the New York Times Book Critics created The New Vanguard, a reading list of fiction by 21st century women writers who are leading us boldly into the new century, “whose books suggest and embody unexplored possibilities in form, feeling and knowledge.” This course will confront these unexplored possibilities and how they reflect new ways of conceiving and realizing literature in our world. Students will analyze how fiction reflects our contemporary world, interrogate the idea of “women’s writing,” and contrast this writing to canonical texts of the 20th century. Ultimately, this analysis will help us gain a better understanding of ourselves and the ways we engage our world.