C21 STL is a faculty seminar on "The Contemporary" organized by Melanie Micir. Founded in 2017 and supported by the Center for the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, this seminar brings together scholars from across the humanities to investigate this emergent critical terrain. Is the contemporary a question of periodization alone--and, if so, when did it begin? Or is the contemporary also an aesthetic category? What is the relationship between the contemporary and the modern, postmodern, late, and/or new? How do scholars trained in earlier periods adapt their critical methodologies when approaching contemporary material? And what are the particular challenges and possible advantages of teaching courses on contemporary issues, texts, and debates?
C21 STL is also a podcast. Founded in 2018 and supported by a Classroom Innovation Grant from the School of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, this podcast is an ongoing student-run production. Each episode features several Washington University students in conversation with a scholar of contemporary literature and culture. The first four episodes were developed and produced by students in Micir's Spring 2018 seminar on Contemporary Fiction. Special thanks to Steven Harowitz and Jeff Allen at the Harvey Media Center at Washington University in St. Louis.