Reading Fiction: Imaginary Journeys

Course Description

Great works of fiction often take us to far-off places; they sometimes conduct us on journeys toward a deeper understanding of what’s right next door. We’ll read, discuss, and interpret a range of short and short-ish works: The reading list will be chosen from among such texts as “Gilgamesh,” Homer’s Odyssey (excerpts), Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress (excerpts), Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels , Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein , Conrad’s Heart of Darkness , Saleh’s Season of Migration to the North , Woolf’s To the Lighthouse , John Cheever’s “The Swimmer,” Coetzee’s The Life and Times of Michael K , Irving’s “Rip Van Winkle,” Toni Morrison’s Jazz , H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine , Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , Beckett’s How It Is , Calvino’s Invisible Cities , Forster’s A Passage to India . As a CI-H class, this subject will involve substantial practice in argumentative writing and oral communication. — Course material by Prof. James Buzard, MIT OpenCourseWare, used under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Original: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/21l-003-reading-fiction-imaginary-journeys-fall-2015/