This course will sample winners of the big literature awards (like The National Book Award, Pulitzer Prize, Man Booker, etc.) from recent years. Award winners reflect the psyche of a reading public, though in sometimes unexpected ways. A year’s slate of award winners is like a time capsule, and we will crack them open in order to rediscover where the culture has been, of trends that have moved through the culture, and to locate where the culture currently is. Award winners are also, of course, a whole lot of readers’ favorite books. Genres might include fiction, poetry, creative nonfiction, and drama. The course might focus on one genre over a sequence of years, a sample across a decade, or a diversity of genre winners in one year.

Offered Fall 2024