ENGL 485-01, Junior Seminar: Faulkner and Morrison, Fall 2010

Abstract

Not only did Toni Morrison write a masters thesis on William Faulkner, but she has also confirmed in interviews her ambition to compose a "regional literature" like Faulkner's, one that is "good--and universal--because it is specifically about a particular world." In this course, we will read the major novels of Faulkner and Morrison in dialogue with one another, exploring the various ways in which Morrison's work revisits and often rewrites along gender, race, and formal lines Faulkner's generally male-centered modernist work. We will also use the novels of these two American giants as a guide by which to trace the ongoing development of 20th century literary criticism, from New Criticism to post-structuralism.