EGMT 1510: Why Read Fiction?

Why should we bother reading fiction? Each of us has been reading made-up stories for years. In this class, we will query whether reading fiction matters and why. What is the value of a fictional story, and what makes reading this story valuable to us as individuals or as a society? What is the ideal function of reading fiction: critical thinking or knowledge transfer, imagination or wonder, pleasure or transformation? Together, we will amass different conceptions of reading and dare ourselves to try new approaches. We will practice reading in different modes: with our eyes and with our ears, on screens and on paper, independently and communally. We will query how we read and what counts as reading: Is reading an audiobook different than listening to a podcast? How is reading a novel distinct from watching a movie? Can AI help us to read fiction or does AI stand in the way of reading? Along the way, we will also turn our attention to ourselves and our own personal relationships with reading. How do you want to craft your experience of reading inside and outside our classroom? What relationship with the written word do you want to cultivate during your time at the University of Virginia and beyond?