21st Century Literature discussion

Hi everyone! I'm teaching a 200-level literature course to undergrads this fall focusing specifically on speculative/magical realism/experimental work from around the world. I've got Akwaeke Emezi and Han Kang down. Do you have any recommendations?

Some suggestions:

The Mere Wife by Maria Dahvana Headley. It's based on Beowulf.
Everything Under by Daisy Johnson.
Once Upon a River by Diane Setterfield.

Good luck with the course. It should be a lot of fun.

Of those I recently read, I think these two might have a special appeal to undergrads:

Exit West by Mohsin Hamid - a young couple in an unnamed war-torn Middle Eastern country, most likely Syria, and then as refugees in London and California

Multiple Choice by Alejandro Zambra - written in the form of multiple-choice questions to narrate about the institutions in the authoritarian society and its aftermath (Chile), serious themes but there is also a touch of humor, especially at the beginning

Both are shorter books, which 200-level students might appreciate. Let us know how the semester goes. Whatever you select, I'm sure the students will love it.

The enlightenment of the greengage tree

If you're concerned about assigning too much reading, maybe add some short stories? I read some great ones in the 2017 edition of The Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy 2017, chosen by Charles Yu, who is himself a great sci fi/speculative writer. The collection has a great diversity of authors in every way - ethnicity, gender, race, etc. Most of the stories were originally published in online magazines, so all your students will need is a link to find them!

I didn't read every single story, but my #1 favorite was the last one, The Venus Effect by Joseph Allen Hill. Others that charmed and stuck with me were Head Scales, Tongue, Tail by Leigh Bardugo, I've Come to Marry the Princess by Helena Bell, Everyone From Themis Sends Letters Home by Genvieve Valentine, and The Story of Kao Yu by Peter Beagle. I also loved Charles Yu's own book of short stories, Sorry Please Thank You.

Ben Winters' Golden State!

You might want to narrow the focus or find a linked theme since the elements you cite are very broad. Also, unless your class is just reading contempoary literature, you might look at older writers like Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Salman Rushdie, Toni Morrison, Shirley Jackson, or Angela Carter and there areva lot of classics that predate those authors.

You could look for adaptation tie-ins since a lot of recent speculative literature has or is being adapted, the Pratchett and Gaiman collaboration Good Omens, for example.

You might want to include a graphic novel and there lots to choose from.

The Obscene Bird of Night by Jose Donoso could be an interesting choice.

From your description of the course and all the recs, I'm ready to take this class!

Wow, such good ideas everyone! "Multiple Choice" is the only one I've not read and it sounds AMAZING! You're so right, Nadine, the students will appreciate shorter readings interspersed with their novels. Incorporating short stories is a great idea!

It's a contemporary "world-lit" course, so it will have to be writers from outside the US. Otherwise, I'd just do Shirley Jackson all day. I taught a "Monsters and Magic" course a semester ago and "We Have Always Lived in the Castle" blew their minds.

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton (New Zealand) - a mystery and love story set during the time of the gold rush in NZ, this book was constructed out of the astrological charts for the exact weeks it takes place in (with characters and locations representing the planets and houses), but also has some magical realism and gothic elements. It won the Booker in 2013. It's a long book, but would supply tons of study material and things students can analyze and research if they want to dig deeper.

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (India) - this not only won the Man Booker, but the "Booker of Booker" awards and has tons of playful magical realism elements. (Or try one of his newer books if this one's too old.)

Other books that might be good fits for this topic:
The Famished Road by Ben Okri (Nigeria)
The Memory Police by Yōko Ogawa (Japan)
Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi (Nigeria)
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami (Japan)
Kintu by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi (Uganda)
Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Mexican/Canadian)
10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World by Elif Shafak (Turkey)
Damascus Nights by Rafik Schami (Syria)
Man Tiger by Eka Kurniawan (Indonesia)
Tyll by Daniel Kehlmann (Germany)
The History of Bees by Maja Lunde (Norway)
Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi (Japan)
Breasts and Eggs by Mieko Kawakami (Japan)
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree by Shokoofeh Azar (Iran/Australia) - comes highly recommended
Rosewater by Tade Thompson (British/Nigerian)
Mouthful of Birds by Samanta Schweblin (Argentina/Germany)
Things We Lost in the Fire by Mariana Enríquez (Argentina)
The Cripple and His Talismans by Anosh Irani (India)
Amatka by Karin Tidbeck (Sweden)
Night Theatre by Vikram Paralkar (India)

And Folding Beijing by Hao Jingfang (China) for a short novelette.

What a list, Eva!
Ones I loved:
The Luminaries (but the kids would revolt if assigned something this long.)
The Memory Police
Breasts and Eggs (I tweeted about how much I loved it and then Mieko Kawakami LIKED MY TWEET.)
Freshwater (already on the syllabus, love it forever.)
Tyll (want an HBO mini-series about this guy)
The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree

Met Salman Rushdie once and he was...very creepy. I liked Midnight's Children, but I think he's been phoning it in for YEARS.

I will make a list of the others because you clearly have great taste!

Another recent title would be Lanny by Max Porter. Has the benefit of being short and taking you into the realm of the green man, a myth that goes back to the Middle Ages in Britain and the tales of the green knight.

Be sure to let us know books you include on your syllabus. Sou m ds like it will br a good class.

Goodreads has been recommending Lanny to me for a while, but I've never gotten around to it! I will check it out!

I'll let you know, Sam. Hopefully, I'll have a class full of book nerds :)

Thanks for asking this question Deirdre - I love speculative fiction, so I'm excited to get this long list of books to add to my pile. :)

Deirdre wrote: "Goodreads has been recommending Lanny to me for a while, but I've never gotten around to it! I will check it out!"
Deirdre, I was biased towards Lanny because I grew up in an English village just like the one in the book and hunted the carvings of green men through the churches in Britain and Europe. So it spoke to me very personally and I recognise that not everyone will sit it so clearly in their imagination.
Here's my review which may help you to decide...
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Me too, Bretnie! I love learning about new magical novels.

I love some good English folklore, Marcus (though admit I'm biased in favor of the Irish legends for obvious reasons). Your review would make anyone want to read Lanny! I've ordered it from my library!

Imagining Argentina by Lawrence Thornton

Deirdre wrote: "Hi everyone! I'm teaching a 200-level literature course to undergrads this fall focusing specifically on speculative/magical realism/experimental work from around the world. I've got Akwaeke Emezi ..."

Isabel Allende.

I love these suggestions! Thank you to everyone who contributed.

For me "Speculative" and "Magic Realism" and "Experimental" all feel like barely-overlapping circles in a Venn diagram, but the one book that came to mind that feels like it's all three is Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin. It's short but if you don't have room for a full novella then I agree with Eva above that probably one of the stories from Mouthful of Birds would work...maybe "Butterflies" which I'm still thinking about even though it's just 3 pages long.

Hi everyone!

Just circling back to say I've read Lanny and Fever Dream and liked them both very much! I'm assigning a couple of Samanta Schweblin short stories to my class!

Any of you also English/Writing profs? My MFA had VERY STRICT canonical feelings, definitely thought genres were distinct territories separated by tall brick walls, and frowned on the experimental.

As a young writer/prof, I rebelled from that formal training, obviously. How do you guys approach your teaching/syllabus creation? Do you still hear your favorite old school mentors in your head whispering "no dreams...no flashbacks..."?

Deirdre wrote: "Hi everyone! ......

My MFA had VERY STRICT canonical feelings, definitely thought genres were distinct territories separated by tall brick walls, and frowned on the experimental. ..."

If I may, Deirde, where did you get your MFA and when?

Hi Lily,
From Johns Hopkins in 2019!

Literature is my favourite class and your idea sound so interesting, I would like to be your student this term. By the way, the books on the thread are awesome too, for example when I was reading https://writingbros.com/essay-examples/literature/ I remember about this Turkish book "10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" by Elif Shafak I wanted to read. Sometimes I read essay examples on books when I have not enough time to read in the evening. So, this is the best way for me to explore even unknown writers from all over the world.

Lydia, your timing is eerie! I'm listening to a podcast about 10 Minutes 38 Seconds in This Strange World" by Elif Shafak right now!
Here's the link: https://www.thebookstorepodcast.com/h...
The ladies who run the podcast have GREAT taste in books.
My class is reading Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi now and they are (somewhat to my surprise because it's written experimentally) LOVING it!
Thanks so much for that thread, I will absolutely check it out!

Deirdre wrote: "Hi Lily, From Johns Hopkins in 2019!"

Thanks for replying, Deirde. J.H. is definitely one of the MFA programs I know little about! (Not that I know a lot about any of them, but, still, some more than others.)