Counterpoint: the technique of combining two or more melodic lines in such a way that they establish a harmonic relationship while retaining their linear individuality. This term, we’ll be reading fiction as both independent and interdependent works. How do Junot Diaz and Sandra Cisneros’s story collections illuminate one another—or Margaret Atwood and Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian novels? E.M. Forster and Jhumpa Lahiri’s cross-cultural narratives? Virginia Woolf and Ian McEwan’s 24-hour novels? In each case, the earlier work prepares us for the later one, which in turn forces us to reconsider its precursor.
