“OK, let’s begin.” American Fiction opens with Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) intoning that phrase to his students on a nameless California college campus, as he initiates a discussion of Faulkner—only to have his seminar derailed by an overly sensitive white undergraduate who complains about the presence of the “n-word” in the novels. After Monk brusquely instructs her to “get over it,” the college suspends him from teaching duties for the rest of the semester. This ridiculous and y