home

=
 * [|EAST HARTFORD ADULT EDUCATION] ** ** Contemporary Literature **

=

Karen M. Adrián  adrian.km@easthartford.org Tuesdays 4pm-5:30pm Thursdays 4pm-5:30pm "Metafiction is a term given to fictional writing which self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in order to pose questions about the relationship between fiction and reality." --Patricia Waugh, //Metafiction: The Theory and Practice// //of Self-Conscious Fiction.//New York: Methuen, 1984.

Contemporary literature is set in the time it was written, and therefore contains contextual references to contemporary issues/events/people etc. It also makes use of new and/or "fashionable" literary styles or techniques. This course builds appreciation and understanding of metafiction through the blending of fictional and real-life characters in the vignettes of Tim O'Brien's Vietnam war novel concerning the nature and process of both reading and writing. Reading and analysis highlight techniques of language, structure, characterization, ideas, and values that emerge.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION: What is the nature of “truth” in creative non-fiction/metafiction? By telling stories about the dead, O'Brien is able to bring them back to life, thereby saving not only their lives but his own: it's the only way he has to speak about his experiences.

media type="file" key="The Things They Carried.mp4" align="center" width="300" height="300"