This course explores the effects of globalization-the economic integration of national markets- on the production of literature in the late-twentieth and early-twenty-first centuries. As trading blocs in Latin America, North America, Europe and Asia are being formed and consolidated, a growing number of literary texts are being produced that focus on the social and cultural consequences of economic globalization. This literature confronts both the possibilities and pitfalls of this new global era by addressing issues of immigration, multiculturalism, pluralism and ethnic identity through provocative experiments with narrative form. The reading list covers a broad terrain: from Salman Rushdie's and V.S. Naipaul's reflections on "coming to America" to the perils of border-crossings described in the fictions of Gayl Jones, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Ondaatje and Rohinton Mistry. Format: discussion/seminar. Requirements: two short essays (8-10 pages) and a series of journal entries. Prerequisite: a 100-level English course, except 150. Enrollment limit: 25 (expected 25). Preference given to English majors and qualified non-majors. (Post-1900)