Experimental writing in literature (stream of consciousness, cut-up, innovative language, anti-narrative, metafiction) is scrutinized in this course with the purpose of examining the form, the cultural significance, the history, and the racial and gender implications as seen through modernist and postmodernist fiction. By the end of the course, students will understand the relationships between texts and contexts, and what it means for 20th century fiction to be deemed modern or postmodern. In addition, the course will investigate how modern and postmodern literature explore issues of identity. The texts will also consider the connection between notions of identity and the 20th century cultural context as a postmodern phenomenon.