ENGL 174C
Contemporary American Fiction: Tales of New Media and Cyberculture
Description: Lecture, four hours; discussion, one hour (when scheduled). Requisites: courses 10A, 10B, and 10C, or 11 and 87. Study of American novels and short stories, mostly by living authors, with emphasis on emergent issues and aesthetics. May be repeated for credit with topic or instructor change. P/NP or letter grading.
Units: 5.0
Units: 5.0
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Most Helpful Review
Summer 2017 - Professor Carruth is super passionate about what she is teaching and this is evident in her lectures. The slides she uses are mostly for visual purposes and helped me pay attention in class. Even though it was a 2-hour lecture, I stayed focused the entire time due to her brilliant lecturing style, which involves slides, lectures and discussion in just the right amounts. She's also super helpful during office hours and will spend time to get to know each and every student in her class. Also, the readings were all contemporary novels which are interesting in a non-class setting too. I would definitely recommend this class for both English and non-English majors interested in the course topics.
Summer 2017 - Professor Carruth is super passionate about what she is teaching and this is evident in her lectures. The slides she uses are mostly for visual purposes and helped me pay attention in class. Even though it was a 2-hour lecture, I stayed focused the entire time due to her brilliant lecturing style, which involves slides, lectures and discussion in just the right amounts. She's also super helpful during office hours and will spend time to get to know each and every student in her class. Also, the readings were all contemporary novels which are interesting in a non-class setting too. I would definitely recommend this class for both English and non-English majors interested in the course topics.
Most Helpful Review
Fall 2025 - When I took this class, the theme was U.S. Fiction after the Cold War. Definitely one of my favorite classes at UCLA. Huehls is so chill, the type of professor that curses in class and doesn't use Canvas. I wish I had gone to office hours more because he's a great conversationalist! I think we read about 8 books through the quarter. Since we're reading them through a post-postmodern/contemporary lens, the lecture ideas can lean theory-heavy. But Huehls breaks them down really well and makes them super interesting. For example he referenced Aubrey Plaza to explain literary New Sincerity, which really made the concept click for me. There are three assignments throughout the quarter, each focusing on a chunk of the texts we read. You can choose to do a take-home final (ID passages, short answer FRQs, and one essay prompt), an essay of your own chosen length and prompt, OR a creative project. I loved the flexibility of the options, and Huehls definitely takes the time to go through all submissions. He emails us personally to give thoughtful, detailed feedback. Also, you get to choose your grade. I hopped onto a Zoom with him, explained why I thought I should get an A+, and he gave it to me. Crazy! But it really goes to show how much Huehls cares about our learning/understanding of the course ideas as well as our accountability for the work we've done. Take his class, you won't regret it!
Fall 2025 - When I took this class, the theme was U.S. Fiction after the Cold War. Definitely one of my favorite classes at UCLA. Huehls is so chill, the type of professor that curses in class and doesn't use Canvas. I wish I had gone to office hours more because he's a great conversationalist! I think we read about 8 books through the quarter. Since we're reading them through a post-postmodern/contemporary lens, the lecture ideas can lean theory-heavy. But Huehls breaks them down really well and makes them super interesting. For example he referenced Aubrey Plaza to explain literary New Sincerity, which really made the concept click for me. There are three assignments throughout the quarter, each focusing on a chunk of the texts we read. You can choose to do a take-home final (ID passages, short answer FRQs, and one essay prompt), an essay of your own chosen length and prompt, OR a creative project. I loved the flexibility of the options, and Huehls definitely takes the time to go through all submissions. He emails us personally to give thoughtful, detailed feedback. Also, you get to choose your grade. I hopped onto a Zoom with him, explained why I thought I should get an A+, and he gave it to me. Crazy! But it really goes to show how much Huehls cares about our learning/understanding of the course ideas as well as our accountability for the work we've done. Take his class, you won't regret it!
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