IMSA students spend the first year-and-a-half in the core English courses, learning about foundational texts of British and American literature. But what comes after – what builds upon these foundations today? And what about the literatures of non-western cultures? This course endeavors to explore and to answer these questions. In Modern World Fiction, students examine some of the most acclaimed world authors of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. In so doing, we attempt to uncover not only the modern concerns – personal, social, and sometimes political – unique to these cultures, but also the universal questions and topics that have fascinated all of humankind over time.