Detailed Schedule | British Fiction

*An asterisk in front of an item indicates required syllabus reading. Others are recommended supplementary reading.

Week 1	Jan. 11	1: 1900s: Transcontinental Interconnections Reading Rudyard Kipling, "How the Leopard Got His Spots," Just So Stories* (1901, 1912) David Stuart Davies, Short History of the Ghost Story, Wordsworth Editions "Bumps in the Night," Part One of David Stuart Davies' History of the Ghost Story "Ho Ho Ho—Boo!," David Stuart Davies Looks at the Tradition of Ghost Stories at Christmas "Bumps in the Night," David Stuart Davies Concludes His Short History of the Ghost Story John M. Cunningham, "What's the Difference between Great Britain and the United Kingdom?," Encyclopædia Britannica Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 1–12 (pp. 1–59) Discussion: Prior texts; international influences in the development of British fiction at the turn of the century; impact of British fiction across the globe; defining and contesting Britishness; changing ideas about fiction; making way for the modernists; rise of the literary craft and criticism; developing genres and subgenres; popular and "serious" fiction Classcast Time capsule Fireside Reading Weekly 1 (study questions for this week's reading)
Week 1	Jan. 13	2: 1900s: End of an Era Reading Rudyard Kipling, "A Sahib's War," Windsor Magazine* (1901; study guide) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 13–17 (pp. 60–86) Discussion: The British Empire; first person narrator; authenticity Classcast Fireside Reading How does the story end?
Week 2	Jan. 18	3: 1910s: Beginning of New Sensibilities Reading Joseph Conrad, The Shadow-Line: A Confession* (1917; study guide) parts I–III (pp. 249–312) Joseph Conrad, "Author's Note," The Shadow-Line: A Confession (1920) Charles Beaudelaire, "La Musique," Fleurs du mal (1857; various translations of the poem that is the epigraph of Conrad's story) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 18–19 (pp. 87–94) Discussion: Maritime culture; travel literature; orientalism, exoticism; author-reader relationship; publishing industry Classcast Fireside reading Scrapbook
Week 2	Jan. 20	4: 1910s Reading Joseph Conrad, The Shadow-Line: A Confession* (1917; study guide) parts IV–VI (pp. 312–62) Charles Clark, "Joseph Conrad's Ship," New Zealand Geographic, no. 78 (2006) "Votes for Women," British Library (2018) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 20–21 (pp. 95–105) Discussion: Conrad's short-long form; modernist sensibilities; becoming British; roles and views of women during the 1910s; WWI effects on gender roles and rights Classcast Weekly 2 (study questions for this week's reading as a Chula Office 365 Word shared document; see also weekly 1 above, in Jan. 11)
Week 3	Jan. 25	5: 1920s: Experiments Reading Agatha Christie, "The Witness for the Prosecution," Flynn's, vol. 4, no. 2 (1925; study guide) Virginia Woolf, "Mrs. Dalloway in Bond Street" (1922; study guide) "Modern Fiction," The Common Reader (1921) Susan Dick, Introduction, The Complete Shorter Fiction of Virginia Woolf (1989) Susan Dick, "Editorial Procedures" Elaine Showalter, "Mrs Dalloway: Exploring Consciousness and the Modern World," British Library (2016) Bloomsbury Group "Lifestyle and Legacy of the Bloomsbury Group," Tate Alison Adler Kroll, "What Was the Bloomsbury Group?," National Trust Ian Sansom, "The Bloomsbury Group," Great Dynasties of the World, The Guardian (2011) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 22–35 (pp. 111–81) "A Very Short History of Cinema," National Science and Media Museum (2011) "BBC 100: Celebrating 100 Years of the BBC," BBC (2022) Discussion: Competing fields and forms for fiction ex. science, art, film; emergence of modern fiction; modernist experimentations and ideas about literature; rise of psychology Classcast Weekly 3
Week 3	Jan. 27	6: 1930s Reading Frank O'Connor, "Guests of the Nation" (1931) Terry McMahon, narrator, "Guests of the Nation," by Frank O'Connor (2020; video clip, 30:51 min.) Frank O'Connor, "Introduction," The Lonely Voice: A Study of the Short Story* (1962) Aldous Huxley, Brave New World (1932) chapter 1 J. R. R. Tolkien, "Three Is Company," The Fellowship of the Ring, Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings (1937, 1954) chapter 3 Diana Pavlac Glyer, "Dusting for Fingerprints," Bandersnatch: C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings (2015) chapter 1 Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 36 (pp. 182–88) Why War? Albert Einstein, Letter to Sigmund Freud (1932) Sigmund Freud, Letter to Albert Einstein (1932 reply) New York World's Fair: World of Tomorrow, PeriscopeFilm (1939; video clip, 9:27 min.) Discussion: Voices of Britain; voices in British fiction; literary societies and the making of fiction; representing war; O'Connor and the short story Classcast Inside the Times
Week 4	Feb. 1	7: 1940s: Engagements Reading George Orwell, Animal Farm* (1945; study guide) chapters 1–3 (pp. 15–43) John Sutherland, "An Introduction to Animal Farm," British Library (2016) Mercedes Aguirre, "Animal Farm and the Beast Fable," British Library (2016) George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language" (1946) "Russian Revolution: What Young Soviets Wanted for Today's Russians," BBC* (2017) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) Discussion: Orwell's fiction and political writing Classcast Engagements Weekly 4
Week 4	Feb. 3	8: 1940s Reading George Orwell, Animal Farm* (1945; study guide) chapters 4–5 (pp. 44–62) George Orwell, Preface to the Ukrainian edition of Animal Farm (1947) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapter 37 (pp. 189–91) Discussion: Orwell's art of political writing Classcast Inside the Times
Week 5	Feb. 8	9: 1940s: Renaming Reading George Orwell, Animal Farm* (1945; study guide) chapters 6–8 (pp. 63–103) John Sutherland, "An Introduction to Animal Farm," British Library (2016) "Study Guide," New Rep Theatre (2018) John Merriman, European Civilization, 1648–1945, Open Yale Courses (2008; includes downloadable transcript, audio and video) Lecture 19: "The Romanovs and the Russian Revolution" (46:57 min.) Lecture 21: "Stalinism" (46:47 min.) World War II History, Imperial War Museums "What Life Was Like in Britain during the Second World War" "Second World War Posters" "On the Home Front part 2," Adventures in History (2020; video clip, 13:11 min.) Julie Summers, "Wartime Wardrobes," English Heritage Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 38 (pp. 192–98) Discussion: Revisions Classcast Vision and revision (Excerpt discussion: Students bring at least one passage from the text and questions that will help us unpack it to discuss in class.) Weekly 5
Week 5	Feb. 10	10: 1940s: Visions Reading George Orwell, Animal Farm* (1945; study guide) chapters 9–10 (pp. 104–28) George Orwell, "Why I Write," Gangrel, no. 4 (1946) Aldous Huxley, Letter to George Orwell on Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) Arthur C. Clarke, "Hide and Seek," The Nine Billion Names of God: The Best Short Stories of Arthur C. Clarke* (1948) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 39–40 (pp. 199–210) "Britain: 1945 to Present," BBC Discussion: Speculative fiction; time and literature Classcast Inside the Times
Week 6	Feb. 15	11: 1950s: Questioning Reading Wyndham Lewis, "My Fellow Traveller to Oxford," Rotting Hill* (1951) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapter 41 (pp. 211–14) Greg Buzwell, "The 1950s: English Literature's Angry Decade," British Library (2017) Discussion: Classcast Weekly 6
Week 6	Feb. 17	12: 1960s: Recalibrating Reading Samuel Beckett, "Ping" (1966, 1967; study guide) Muriel Spark, "The House of the Famous Poet" (1966; study guide) Jeanne Devoize and Pamela Valette, "Muriel Spark," interview, Journal of the Short Story in English 41 (2003) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 42–43 (pp. 215–23) Christian House, "Boy Wonder: A Revealing View of Bruce Chatwin's Early Years at Sotheby's," Independent (2008) Rebecca A. Clay, "Bruce Chatwin: A Biography," review, Wilson Quarterly, vol. 24 (2000) Gary Raymond, "GWN Revisited: On the Black Hill by Bruce Chatwin," Wales Art Review (2017) Discussion: Classcast Lit Spot
Week 7	Feb. 22	13: 1970s: Diversity Reading Angela Carter, "The Snow Child," The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories* (1979; study guide) Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 44–45 (pp. 224–34) Discussion: Classcast Lit Spot
Week 7	Feb. 24	14: 1980s Reading Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) chapters 46–50 (pp. 235–62) "Observing the 80s," University of Sussex Discussion: Classcast Lit Spot
Week 8	Mar. 1	15: 1980s: Reclaiming the World Reading Bruce Chatwin, On the Black Hill* (1982) Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, "The Language of African Literature," Decolonizing the Mind* (1981) parts 1–6 Salman Rushdie, "The Perforated Sheet" and "Mercurochrome," Midnight's Children* (1981; study guide) Discussion: Postcolonial sensibilities; implications of the English language; Englishes; owning languages Classcast English and the World
Week 8	Mar. 3	16: 1980s Reading Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons, and John Higgins, Watchmen* (1986) chapter 1 Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons, Watchmen Annotated, edited by Leslie S. Klinger (2017) chapter 1 Discussion: The rise of graphic novels; storytelling media Classcast Fireside Reading Scrapbook
Week 9	Mar. 8	No class (Midterm week: March 7–11, 2022)
Week 9	Mar. 10	Test 1 (15 minutes for thought and planning and 1 hour for writing) This is an open-book essay-type online test. It starts at 2:30 p.m. and ends at 3:50 p.m. I will be available online (Zoom and e-mail) throughout the test period to answer any questions you may have. The test paper and instructions are posted on our announcements page. Classcast (for those of you who would like to have access to me during the test period via this channel) Review and practice
Week 10	Mar. 15	17: 1990s Reading A. S. Byatt, Possession* (1990) chapters 1 and 2 Nuala Ní Dhomhnaill, "Why I Choose to Write in Irish: The Corpse That Sits Up and Talks Back," The New York Times Book Review (1995) Discussion: Literary visibility (ex. awards, best-of collections, big-name publishers, major chain bookstores and online sellers) Classcast Notes on Possession
Week 10	Mar. 17	18: 1990s Reading Alexander McCall Smith, "The Daddy," The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency* (1998) pp. 3–14 "A Q and A with Alexander McCall Smith," Little, Brown (2018; video clip, 19:59 min.) KTP Radhika, "Alexander McCall Smith: Portraits of Unknown People," The Punch (2020) "Alexander McCall Smith - Botswana," Journeyman Pictures (2007; video clip, 15:29 min.) Discussion: Cultural translation; stereotypes; contemporary publishing cultures and processes; recalibrating British consciousness and fiction Classcast Sign-up
Week 11	Mar. 22	19: 1990s Reading Timothy Mo, Renegade, or Halo²* (1999) chapter 1 Discussion: Literary and scholarly trends vs. the fiction landscape Classcast The Business of Fiction (Post your responses in the shared document.)
Week 11	Mar. 24	20: 1990s Reading Timothy Mo, Renegade, or Halo²* (1999) chapter 2 Discussion: Canons Classcast Unusual Suspects
Week 12	Mar. 29	21: 2000s: Constructive Disruption Reading Sue Townsend, Adrian Mole: The Prostrate Years* (2009) pp. 3–33 Sue Townsend, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13¾ (1982) excerpt Discussion: Contemporary voices; post-millennial, post-9/11 literature; disability authors and fiction Classcast Constructions and Disruptions (Post your responses in the shared document. Chula student login gives you access to the writing resource links.)
Week 12	Mar. 31	22: 2000s Reading Clare Wigfall, "The Numbers," The Loudest Sound and Nothing* (2008) Charles E. May, "What Makes a Great Short Story?," The Short Story Publishing (2017) Discussion: British contemporary short fiction Classcast Numbers Exchange (Post your responses in the shared document.)
Week 13	Apr. 5	23: Early 2010s Reading Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending* (2011; study guide) part 1 (beginning–p. 56) Discussion: Functions of history, of philosophy and of teaching; concerns and preoccupations of history, of philosophy and of teaching; disadvantages and limitations of history, of philosophy, of classroom-learning; why are subjects like history and philosophy taught in schools and colleges?; what role does philosophy have in life? Is it a practical resource or a theoretical indulgence? Classcast Theoretically Not Self-Evident
Week 13	Apr. 7	24: Early 2010s Reading Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending* (2011; study guide) part 2 (pp. 59 "Later on in life"–105 "isn't all it's cracked up to be") Discussion: Information and perspective; old age; senses Classcast Evolving Storyview
Week 14	Apr. 12	25: Early 2010s Reading Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending* (2011; study guide) part 2 (p. 105 "Imagine someone, late at night, a bit drunk"–end) Discussion: Memory and misunderstanding, evidence and interpretation; motivation and presentation; truth, lies, life and literature; patterns, echoes, recalls and variations; observation and understanding; guilt and expiation; relationship between words, actions and consequences Classcast Literary Construction
Week 14	Apr. 14	No class (Songkran)
Week 15	Apr. 19	26: Late 2010s: Disruption and Continuation Reading Aminatta Forna, Happiness* (2018; study guide) "The Last Wolf" to chapter 7 (pp. 1–112) Aminatta Forna, "Selective Empathy: Stories and the Power of Narrative," World Literature Today (2017) Discussion: What is post-race?; decentralizing Britain; metaphors and similes of contemporary London and the twenty-first century world Classcast Habitat of Happiness (Students sign up to focus on one topic within the ecology of the novel.)
Week 15	Apr. 21	27: Late 2010s: Narrative Structure and Meaning Reading Aminatta Forna, Happiness* (2018; study guide) chapters 8–10 (pp. 113–59) Maxine Sinclair, "Falling on Deaf Ears," The Limping Chicken* (2016) "Deaf People Answer Commonly Googled Questions about Being Deaf," BuzzFeedVideo (2019; video clip, 5:45 min.) "Talk Stoop Featuring Marlee Matlin," Talk Stoop with Cat Greenleaf (2015; video clip, 6:14 min.) "Google — A CODA Story," Google (2021, video clip, 1:30 min.) Discussion: Approaches to narrative structure; narrative structure and meaning: how ideas affect narrative choice, narrative strategies regarding place, time, stance, psychology; point of view; who is deaf?; depathologization (ex. of deafness, of trauma) Classcast Structure and perspective
Week 16	Apr. 26	28: Late 2010s Reading Aminatta Forna, Happiness* (2018; study guide) chapters 11–16 (pp. 160–252) "Interview of Stuart Hall - March 2006" (video clip, 38:11 min.; Hall talks to Werbner about cosmopolitanism) Discussion: Mental, cultural, societal, political, and personal ecosystems Classcast Form and content
Week 16	Apr. 28	29: Late 2010s to the Present and Future: Habitat for Literature Reading Aminatta Forna, Happiness* (2018; study guide) chapters 17–24 (end; pp. 253–309) George Monbiot, "In Defense of Speciesism," The Guardian (2020) Cybernetic novels Joshua Barrie, "Computers Are Writing Novels: Read a Few Samples Here," Business Insider (2014) Michael Schaub, "Is the Future Award-Winning Novelist a Writing Robot?," Los Angeles Times (2016) Brian Merchant, "When an AI Goes Full Jack Kerouac," The Atlantic (2018) Gregory Barber, "Text-Savvy AI Is Here to Write Fiction," Wired (2019) Katie Paterson, Future Library (2014–2114 artwork) Discussion: The urban wild; representation (of the animal and plant kingdom, place, weather, people, death, war and post-war); digital culture; technology and fiction; cybernetic novels and full AI novels; the literary Turing Test; digital narratives: authorship, readership, interactivity, syntax, continuity, intertextuality, linearity, immediacy, anonymity, non-human agency; treatments of social media; the evolution of British fiction, British authors and Britishness; the ecology of fictional creation; reception; critical possibilities Classcast Updates from the field
Week 17	May 3	30: Final Insights Reading David Mitchell, "The Right Sort," Twitter, The Millions* (2014) Michael Rudin, "From Hemingway to Twitterature: The Short and Shorter of It," Journal of Electronic Publishing (2011) Brandon Taylor, "Against the Attention Economy: Short Stories Are Not Quick Literary Fixes," Literary Hub (2017) Discussion: Perspectives and implications; the present and future of British fiction Classcast Post-Class Consultation (Sign up for a time if you'd like to bounce some presentation and paper ideas off me early. You'll be invited in from the Zoom waiting room to the session once the previous appointment is over.)
Week 17	May 5	Test 2 (15 minutes for thought and planning and 1 hour for writing; open-book, online) The final exam covers material from weeks 10 to 17 on our syllabus and detailed schedule. The prompts will be posted on our announcements page in both Word and PDF (the latter for you to check against font and layout renditions for different version software) at 2:30 p.m. I will be available online (Zoom and e-mail) throughout the exam period to answer any questions you may have. Classcast (for those of you who would like to have access to me during the test period via this channel)
Week 18	May 12	Insights into British Fiction Classcast (7–8 p.m.; ten-minute work-in-progress presentations and post-talk Q&A)
Week 21	June 3	Final paper due (5–7 pp.; paper file received in my e-mail inbox by 4:00 p.m.)