Instructor: Fergal O’Doherty
We will read compelling fiction and non-fiction by Jamaica Kincaid, Frank McCourt, Philip Roth, J.D. Salinger, Roddy Doyle, Mark Haddon and others in which the primary narrative voice is that of a child. We will examine the texts below with the help of psychological and literary theory including family systems theory, and the history of ideas about childhood and adulthood. Here are some of the questions addressed in the class: In what ways does the child as narrator make a story more or less credible? Why do authors so often choose the voice of a child as the storyteller? What can we learn about the reliability of memory from these books? What can we learn about the nature of story-telling from narratives of children?
Course Code: 74056
Meets Tuesdays and Thursdays
11:00 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. in room NS 360
(cross-listed with Philosophy 255)
For more info, e-mail Fergal O’Doherty: fodoherty@palomar.edu