Matthew Redmond teaches this class at Stanford in part “to disrupt what seems an obvious distinction between development and result, closure and continuity. On careful inspection, it is surprisingly difficult to tell what makes a novel, or any piece of writing, truly finished.” Yet there was another factor this past fall quarter, “a period defined by the constant escalation of COVID-19 deaths and a presidential election in which the losing candidate refused to concede. This was no time for stories that end, happily or otherwise. It was a time for cross-examining our dependence on closure, and for exercising our capacity to function without it.” – Literary Hub
