ENGL 220 - The Booker Prize: Examining a Prize, Examining an Empire

The Booker Prize is awarded annually to a new novel published in the UK by an author from the UK or a former territory of the British Empire. This class will follow the 2017 Booker Prize proceedings and the class schedule will be built live alongside developments in the 2017 prize season over the course of the fall semester. Students will dissect the evolving aesthetics and politics of the prize. Why is the Booker a cultural phenomenon in England and what does it mean to consider the former “Empire” through these largely post-colonial texts? What roles do the judges, the sponsors, and the British and international reading public have? Readings: selected books from the 2017 long/short list, Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children, Beryl Bainbridge’s Master Georgie, Paul Beatty’s The Sellout.

Credits: 1.00
Prerequisites: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: None
Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
Liberal Arts CORE: None

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