Syllabus Spring 2026

MALA (Master of Liberal Arts) 6050-Philosophy in Recent American Fiction

(For more info: phil.oliver@mtsu.edu... https://prafmtsu.blogspot.com/)

We'll all read three novels* together, and each of us will additionally read and report on either a fourth novel or on a specific author's life and works.** 

"Philosophy" = searching for wisdom, clarity, enlightenment, meaning, perspective, purpose, reality, truth, understanding, ... especially with regard to the human impact on nature, the environment, other species, & other humans.

"Recent" = 21st century

*The three novels:

1. Richard Ford, Be Mine

2. Richard Powers, Playground (see below #) 

3. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Argyments for the Existence of God

**Possible fourth choices, for individual reports: 

• The Sellout by Paul Beatty (2015) - A satirical look at race and identity that won the Man Booker Prize.

• The Candy House by Jennifer Egan (2022) - Explores themes of memory, connection, and digital surveillance. 

• Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner (2024) - Considers whether the path to emancipation from what ails modern life is not revolt, but a return to the ancient past. 

• Any of the earlier Frank Bascombe novels by Richard Ford...

• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (2016) - Explores the lasting impacts of slavery and the search for identity across generations.

• Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver (2012) - Explores climate change, ecological disruption, and human responsibility. 

• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver (2024) - a new take on Dickens' Copperfield.

• The Road by Cormac McCarthy (2006) - A harrowing journey through a post-apocalyptic landscape, meditating on survival, love, and morality.

• A Children's Bible by Lydia Millet (2020) - Set in a near-apocalyptic world, it examines generational responsibility and environmental collapse.

• Our Missing Hearts by Celeste Ng (2022) - Dystopian fiction about cultural repression and familial bonds.

• The Overstory by Richard Powers (2018) - A Pulitzer Prize-winning novel weaving interrelated stories about trees, nature, and activism. 

• Bewilderment by Richard Powers (2021) - This novel delves deeply into themes of ecological awareness and the human condition through the story of a father and his neurodivergent son.

• Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid (2019) - Investigates issues of race, privilege, and morality in contemporary America.

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022) - This narrative explores human creativity and relationships within the context of gaming and artificial intelligence.

• Gilead by Marilynne Robinson (2004) - A profound exploration of faith, mortality, and legacy in small-town America.

• Plato at the Googleplex by Rebecca Newberger Goldstein...

• The Maytrees by Annie Dillard (2007 meditates on time, love, and mortality in a manner reminiscent of late James or even Santayana.

• A Children’s Bible (2020) and Dinosaurs (2022) by Lydia Millet, perhaps our sharpest living ecological moralist. She writes with a mix of irony and tenderness about apocalypse, indifference, and human responsibility to the more-than-human world.
• The Woman Upstairs (2013), The Emperor’s Children (2006) by Claire Messud.
  Messud’s work probes questions of authenticity, ambition, and moral compromise—what Sartre called mauvaise foi in a modern American key.
• The Flamethrowers (2013), The Mars Room (2018) by Rachel Kushner
  Both novels interrogate freedom, rebellion, and moral responsibility within systems of art, politics, and incarceration.
• Fates and Furies (2015), Matrix (2021) by Lauren Groff
  Matrix, in particular, is a striking meditation on creative power, spirituality, and women’s community—an existential study of agency within constraint. Medieval monastic life reimagined as a feminist parable of creation, solitude, and visionary leadership. Philosophical focus: Meliorism, the work of care, and the imagination of better worlds within the constraints of necessity — what it means to “find delight in dark times.”
• The History of Love (2005), Forest Dark (2017) by Nicole Krauss
  Krauss brings a metaphysical sensibility to questions of love, art, and transcendence—often through a quasi-Kabbalistic lens.
• Oryx and Crake (2003) and The Year of the Flood (2009) by Margaret Atwood 
• The Auburn Conference by Tom Piazza
• Culpability by Bruce Holsinger

**Possible authors,  for individual reports:

• Michael Chabon

• Jennifer Egan

• Richard Ford

• Jonathan Franzen

• Barbara Kingsolver

• Rachel Kushner

• Ann Patchett

• Richard Powers

• Marilyn Robinson

• Philip Roth

• Tom Piazza

• Your suggestions...

For midterm report presentations, focus on the day's assigned material. For the final report presentation and accompanying blog post, focus on the additional text you've selected. Each report is worth up to 25 points. Exams will be objective-format questions covering the required texts, each worth up to 25 points. Gain extra credit via participation (earned via comments and questions posted online and posed in class), which we'll track on the scorecard (to be explained in class)...

JAN

20 Introductions (Who are you? Why are you here? What's your definition of philosophy? What are the best and the most recent novels you've  read? What did you like/dislike about them? Did you find in them anything "philosophical," by your definition? Post your responses in the comments' space below.)

27 Richard Ford, Be Mine ___. Select/assign midterm report presentation topic & date.

FEB

3 Richard Ford, Be Mine -p.87. Midterm report presentation: ___

10 Richard Ford, Be Mine -172. Presentation: ___

17 Richard Ford, Be Mine -266. Presentation: ___

24 Richard Ford, Be Mine -342. Presentation(s): ___

MAR

3 Exam. Select final report presentation topic & date. Presentation(s): ___ 

SPG BK

17 Richard Powers, Playground -p.95. Final report presentation: ___

24 Richard Powers, Playground -p.193. Presentation: ___

31 Richard Powers, Playground -p.292. Presentation: ___

APR

7 Richard Powers, Playground -p.381. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God -tba. Presentation: ___Presentation: ___

14 Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God -tba. Presentation: ___

21 Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God -tba. Presentation(s): ___

28 Last class. Exam 2. Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, 36 Arguments for the Existence of God -tba. Presentation(s): ___

MAY

2 Final report blog post (final draft) due. Post earlier for feedback

IMPORTANT DATES Fall 2026

• Jan 20 - Classes begin

• Jan 27 - Select/assign midterm report presentation topic & date. 

• Feb 3 -  Mid-term report presentations begin.

• Mar 3 – Exam 1. Select final report presentation topic & date.

• Mar 9-14 – Spring Break – No Classes

• Mar 17 – Final report presentations begin

• Apr 28 – Our Last Day of Class. Exam 2

• May 2  - Final report blog post (final draft) due. Post earlier for feedback

• May 7  – Last Day of Term

• May 9  – Commencement (Days and Times TBD), Official Fall Graduation Date

• May 10  – Deadline for Submission of Final Grades, 11:59 p.m.