Major Authors: After the Masterpiece: Novels by Melville, Twain, Faulkner, and Morrison

This seminar provides intensive study of exciting texts by four influential American authors. In studying paired works, we can enrich our sense of each author’s distinctive methods, get a deeper sense of the development of their careers, and shake up our preconceptions about what makes an author or a work “great.” Students will get an opportunity to research an author in depth, as well as making broader comparisons across the syllabus.

The syllabus, on MIT OpenCourseWare

The full course — syllabus, assigned readings, problem sets, exams, and lecture notes — lives on OCW. These open the real thing: