{"id":1252,"date":"2024-04-09T14:34:24","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T18:34:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/?p=1252"},"modified":"2024-04-09T14:46:20","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T18:46:20","slug":"lessons-from-contemporary-american-literature","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/mu-regional-pulse\/2024\/04\/lessons-from-contemporary-american-literature\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons From Contemporary American Literature"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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<\/p>\nBy Jeffry Catalano —<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

One of the best parts about taking an English course like ENG 293: Contemporary American Fiction is that you\u2019ll probably be introduced to a book or author you\u2019ve never heard of or read before. Sometimes, a new book you read in class becomes one of your favorites. There are far more books in existence than any one person can read, so it can be a little daunting to consider what to pick up next from the bookstore or library. The benefit of taking an English class like Contemporary American Fiction is that it has a narrow focus and introduces students to books by modern American authors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For an entire semester, students read and study the work of contemporary and up-and-coming writers. The course, taught by Dr. Cotugno in past iterations, has exposed students to writers with truly original voices like Anthony Veasna So, Karen Russel, and Torrey Peters. The genres and categories of novels on the syllabus for ENG 293 is wide-ranging and fresh. Each novel addresses contemporary issues and concerns and reflects the world we\u2019re living in today. American Contemporary Fiction serves as a reminder to readers that it\u2019s just as important to stay up to date on new literature as it is to devour the classics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Cotugno is fascinated with how fiction evolves over time and how authors capture the state of the world in their work. Books like Anthony Veasna So\u2019s Afterparties, <\/em>Torrey Peters\u2019 Detransition Baby<\/em>, and Jocelyn Nicole Johnson\u2019s My Monticello <\/em>tackle issues and subject matter many readers are more aware of and engaged with today than they were years before. Afterparties <\/em>details the Asian-American experience from a primarily Cambodian perspective. The Cambodian Genocide haunts many of the characters in the book, shedding light on a terrible genocide many Americans probably aren\u2019t too familiar with. Detransition Baby <\/em>has a cast of trans characters, one of whom detransitioned. Both Afterparties <\/em>and Detransition Baby <\/em>are works of LGBTQ literature, and were written by a gay man and trans woman respectively. My Monticello<\/em> details the African-American experience in several very different short stories, including the dystopian story Johnson\u2019s book shares its name with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of Dr. Cotugno\u2019s goals for ENG 293 is to introduce students to stories they might have never read before. She said, \u201cPersonally, I hope that students are introduced to authors and texts that perhaps they have not known before, or perhaps they become curious to read more.\u201d This course strongly encourages students to seek out contemporary literature outside of the classroom. For example, a writer like Torrey Peters may inspire other students to find more authors like her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What each student brings to the books Dr. Cotugno selects for ENG 293 varies significantly. As she reminded me, everyone\u2019s perspective is unique. She said, \u201cMy experiences are limited, just like everyone\u2019s, and so I appreciate the perspectives brought to bear on our readings by students.\u201d Over the years, Dr. Cotugno has continually been surprised by the reactions students have had to books and readings she\u2019s assigned, in ENG 293 and in other classes. In an anecdote she shared with me, she related how many of her students\u2019 enthusiastic response to Amy Lowell\u2019s poem, \u201cPatterns,\u201d made her appreciate it in a way she hadn\u2019t before. The poem was never a favorite of hers, but her students\u2019 love for it made her see it in a new light. The books students are assigned in ENG 293 help them see the world from multiple different perspectives, many of which will be different from their own. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Students who\u2019ve taken a number of English classes at Miami or students who like to read in their spare time are probably familiar with the idea of how reading fiction can increase one\u2019s capacity for empathy. Dr. Cotugno is very aware of how reading can help a person develop their mental and emotional intelligence. The books she selects for ENG 293 are filled with characters readers can empathize with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Dr. Cotugno is a proponent for fiction\u2019s ability to increase a person\u2019s empathy, she also made the point of how there are some limits to this. She said, \u201cFor example, I\u2019ve read many books that depict the events of the Holocaust, but I would never, ever suggest that I can truly empathize with the experiences of those who lived that event (as well as the generations impacted by those events).\u201d As someone who\u2019s read Elie Wisel\u2019s Night <\/em>and a number of other nonfiction books about one of the darkest events in human history, I knew what she meant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, fiction has the profound ability to make many readers feel seen and feel less alone. The books one reads in ENG 293 cover so many different variations of the American experience. Contemporary American Literature helps expand students\u2019 definition of what the American experience is.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A number of the books students read in ENG 293 are short story collections. Books like Afterparties <\/em>and My Monticello <\/em>offer one fascinating, isolated story after the next. If Contemporary American Fiction is any indication, short stories are as popular as they ever were. As someone who knows next to nothing about short stories, besides the work of masters of the genre like Flannery O\u2019Connor, I asked Dr. Cotugno for her thoughts on this. She said, \u201cI love short stories, and it\u2019s a fascinating genre. I think short stories can be more appealing to readers who have less time to spend reading. It can also be less intimidating to a student to be asked to read a short story versus a novel.\u201d In the fast-paced world we live in, maybe people are drawn to short stories because they can finish them in one sitting. Two of Dr. Cotugno\u2019s favorite short story authors are Flannery O\u2019Connor and Vladimir Nabokov. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With such a rich variety of texts covered in ENG 293, it seems like American fiction has made a great deal of progress. There also seems to be more of a market for books that might not have found critical and commercial success years ago. I know I\u2019m hardly alone in my gratitude for the many books and authors I\u2019ve been introduced to over the years at Miami. Through ENG 293, I read about communities of Americans, like Cambodian Americans, that I didn\u2019t know that much about before. The primary lesson I took away from the class was to read as many different types of contemporary fiction authors as I could when I got the urge to read new fiction. I would like to think that, before taking Contemporary American Literature, I would\u2019ve picked up a book like Afterparties <\/em>at the bookstore if I found plot synopsis on the back intriguing, but I can\u2019t be sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

English 293 taught me not to limit myself and to take chances on what I read. The different points of view I encountered through the books Dr. Cotugno chose for class has broadened my horizons in ways I could never have expected. Dr. Cotungo believes that fiction\u2019s ability to open one\u2019s mind is one of its greatest benefits. She said, \u201cBeing able to see multiple perspectives rather than view things in binary ways is important to me. If students develop some skills that they can use in their daily lives, I\u2019m happy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Afterparties<\/em>, Detransition Baby<\/em>, and My Monticello <\/em>were taught while I was a student in Contemporary American Fiction. In previous interactions of the class, the following were also on the syllabus: Sleep Donation<\/em> by Karen Russell, The UnAmericans: Stories<\/em> by Molly Antopol; Bark: Stories<\/em> by Lorrie Moore; Family Life: A Nove<\/em>l by Akhil Sharma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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