Richard Powers

Our next work is by noted postmodern novelist, Richard Powers. Powers is famous for focusing much of his work on the role of technology and science in American culture. Powers worked as a computer programmer before he became a novelist and studied physics, as well as English, in college. In Galatea 2.2, Powers updates the Pygmalion story for the e-generation. Galatea 2.2 tells many different stories; it's part modern-day fable, part romance, part scifi experiment, and part playful postmodern meta-fiction. In class, we'll use Powers' fascinating work to open up questions about whether the computer has superseded the novel, whether the university functions as an appropriate place to study literature, and whether a novel that stars its own author is a novel at all.