Neoliberalism - an ideology that asserts the absolute primacy of the free market, enforced by a strong interventionist state - has shaped what we think of as politically possible since the 1980s. This course explores the emergence and consolidation of this paradigm, looking at literary texts published since the 1990s and works of political and economic theory published since the 1940s. We will trace neoliberalism's impact on contemporary fiction and ask whether certain works of fiction have, in turn, guided the evolution of neoliberalism. We will also ask whether contemporary fiction imagines alternatives to neoliberalism, or whether neoliberalism short-circuits this ability to imagine political alternatives.

Prerequisite: Must be a graduate student in English