English 2305-9 (15588): Introduction to Fiction: Marginalized Communities in Literary Fiction
Ashley Wurzbacher
TTh 2:30-4
Course Goals & Description
Recent high-profile events, debates, and protests remind us that, although the United States is a
national community on one level, on another it is composed of many different groups. Some of
those groups have been and continue to be marginalized and oppressed. In the face of these
very real divisions, one way we can pay these communities the respect they deserve is by
reading their stories and, in doing so, exercising our ability to empathize with characters whose
lives may be very different from our own. Indeed, the study of literary fiction affords us a
special opportunity to imagine life, however temporarily, as someone else, and thereby to
enhance our own ability to feel for and connect with others. According to psychologist David
Comer Kidd at the New School for Social Research, “the same psychological processes are used
to navigate fiction and real relationships. Fiction is not just a simulator of social experience, it is
a social experience.”
In this course, we will conduct literary analysis with an emphasis on the formal elements of
fiction, including point of view, voice, setting, structure, and character development. We’ll
begin our study with a series of short stories, then move on to three novels that depict life in
marginalized communities—a Native American reservation, a mostly black community in Ohio,
and an East-Coast apartment building that houses immigrant families from Central and South
America. We will consider such questions as: How does each of our course texts use formal
elements of fiction (like point of view, voice, etc.) to evoke a sense of community? What
particular challenges and struggles do the communities in each novel face? In what ways can
we as readers, by identifying with the characters and situations in a novel, interrogate our own
positions within the communities in which we move, and with which we interact, every day?
Required Texts
 Erdrich, Louise. Love Medicine. First published 1984. New York: Harper Perennial
(Newly Revised Edition), 2009.
 Morrison, Toni. Sula. First published 1973. New York: Vintage (Reprint Edition), 1994.
 Henríquez, Cristina. The Book of Unknown Americans. New York: Knopf, 2014.
 Short stories and other readings posted to Blackboard.
Assignments and Expectations
Reading will be assigned for every class session. Students are expected to complete all readings,
come to class on time, participate in discussions and activities, and meet deadlines. Major
assignments will include two short papers and a longer paper, in addition to quizzes and
reading journals.
Major Assignments & Grading
Coursework will be weighted as follows:
 Paper 1 (2½+ pages) ....................................................... 20%
 Paper 2 (3+ pages) .......................................................... 20%
 Paper 3 (6+ pages) .......................................................... 25%
 Student-Led Discussion ................................................ 10%
 Reading Journals, Homework, & Quizzes ................. 20%
 Attendance & Participation .......................................... 5%
Special Opportunity: Students will be encouraged to attend a reading by the author of The Book
of Unknown Americans, Cristina Henríquez, in Houston on Monday, April 20, at 7:30 pm. Thanks
to the Inprint foundation for bringing Henríquez to town as a featured author in its 2014-2015
Margarett Root Brown Reading Series.