Reading South and North: Literature of the Americas
Fall 2000 -Winter 2001 Group Contract
Faculty: Greg Mullins, SE 3105, x 6243, e-mail:
mullinsg
Office
Hours: Tuesday 3:30-4:30 and by appointment
Evelia Romano, SE 3113, x 6434, e-mail: romanoe
Office Hours: Tuesday 3:30-4:30 and by appointment
Library Faculty:Sarah Pedersen, L.3309, x 6647, e-mail: pedersen
Secretary: Julie Douglass, Se 3127, x6550, e-mail:
douglasj
PDF version
Typical Week
Assignments
Reading List
Weekly Schedule Back
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Course Description
Nations, like people, seek identities to explain their
place in the world. Among the attributes of national identity, culture
plays a pivotal role, and within the realm of national culture, literature
is especially formative. As a consequence, literature has long been
read, studied, and taught as a national phenomenon. However, at the turn
of the century we are becoming increasingly aware of the extent to which
culture is not delimited by national borders. Local economies are
fragments of the global economy that embraces and overwhelms them; likewise,
individual lived experience is increasingly shaped by the pressure of global
culture. In this program we will address the following questions with reference
to the literature of the Americas, North and South: What is the role of
literature in the global system? Does literature reflect developments
in global culture? Does it resist them? Does it remain an expression
of national culture? Have past efforts to read literature as a national
experience been misguided? Has there been a shift from a national
to a global preoccupation, and if so when did (or when will) it happen?
During fall quarter, we will focus on the modernization
processes that took place over the first half of the 20th century and their
repercussions on various definitions of nationalism, nationality and national
culture. Our work this quarter will lay the foundation for thinking
about globalization and late 20th century literature in the winter.
In the fall we will explore four nodes of inquiry: 1) nation and mythology;
2) nation and internationalism; 3) nation and region; and 4) nation and
city.
Lectures will provide the cultural, historical and
social contexts which are indispensable in order to achieve a clear understanding
of the relevance of each writer and their period. Other materials, such
as Netscape sites and movies, will complement the lectures, readings and
seminars. Four credits of this sixteen-credit program will be earned in
a literary theory workshop. The concepts explored in workshops will help
students understand the conventions of literary criticism. The theory workshop
complements the work in the rest of the program and builds toward our ability
to think about globalization in winter quarter. The concepts explored
in workshops will help students understand the conventions of literary
criticism
Weekly schedule
|
Monday |
Tuesday |
Wednesday |
|
10-12 Lecture in LH2 |
9-11 Lecture, L2205 |
10-12 Seminar, L2127 & L2130 |
| 1-3 Seminar, L2218 & L2219 |
12:30 -2:30 Workshop, Cab 110
Literary Theory |
|
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Assignments
During fall quarter students will have three major formal
assignments:
1) Small group oral/written
presentations in seminar: Groups of three students will be in charge
of seminar presentation on Mondays. The presentation will consist of a
written and oral summary of the material covered the previous week and
should demonstrate literary analysis, integration of texts and contexts,
and incorporation of bibliographical research. Students in charge of presentations
are expected to research the theme on their own for achieving a thorough
understanding of the material and provide further information for discussion.
2) Midterm short essay:
close reading and analysis of selected passages.
3) End of quarter essay
that bridges literary theory and program texts/contexts.
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Evaluation
Full credit will be awarded to students who are fully
engaged with program activities and tho produce quality academic work.
Credit will be denied for failure to attend, failure to participate, late
assignments and for poor quality work. Credit will be awarded in American
Literature, Latin American Literature and Literary Theory.
Reading List: Required texts
-
Arlt, Roberto. The Seven Madmen (1929). Baltimore:
Serpent's Tail, 1998.
-
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man (1952).
NY: Random House/Vintage, 1995.
-
Faulkner, William. The Sound and the Fury
(1929). NY: Random House/Vintage, 1991.
-
Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby (1925).
NY: Scriber, 1995.
-
Onetti, Juan Carlos. A Brief Life (1950).
NY: Viking Penguin, 1976.
-
Rivera, Eustasio. The Vortex (1924). NY:
T.V.R.T., 1979.
-
Tapscott, Stephen, ed. Twentieth-Century Latin
American Poetry. Austin: Texas University Press, 1999.
Literary Theory Workshop:
-
Ryan, Michael. Literary Theory. Malden
& Oxford: Blackwell, 1999.
-
Bishop, Elizabeth. The Complete Poems (1969).
NY: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 1984.
-
James, Henry. The Aspern Papers (1888).
NY: Oxford UP, 2000.
-
Morrison, Toni. The Bluest Eye (1970).
NY: NAL, 1994.
-
Shakespeare, William. King Lear (1606).
NY: Penguin, 1999.
Required and supplementary articles and chapters related
to weekly topics will be available at Open Reserve in the Library.
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Week One Sept. 25-27 Introduction
Monday
Lecture Greg and Evelia: Introduction to "Reading South and North"
Seminar Introductions and expectations
Tuesday
Lecture Greg: Nationalism
Workshop Evelia: Introduction to literary
genres and literary studies
Greg: How to read poetry: Elizabeth Bishop (bring your copy of Complete
Poems to the workshop)
Wednesday
Seminar: The concept of literature: Wellek, R and A. Warren, Theory
of Literature, (New York:
Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc, 1956), pp. 15-37. Sartre, J.P., What's
Literature, (London: Methuen
& Co., 1967): 23-48.
Week Two Oct. 2-4 Nations and National Mythologies
Read for Monday: Romulo Gallegos, Doña Barbara
Monday
Lecture Evelia: Language,
Literature and National Identity
Seminar Library Tour
Tuesday
Lecture Greg: Nationalism and Literary Study in the U.S.
Workshop Formalism: read Ryan, sec. 1.1, 1.4 & 1.5 and Bishop,
"The Moose" and "At
the Fishhouses". From library reserve, read Brooks, "The Formalist
Critics."
Wednesday
Seminar On this week’s reading and lectures
Week Three Oct. 9-11 Nations and National Mythologies
Read for Monday: F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.
Monday
Lecture Greg: Fitzgerald
Seminar: Student led integration seminar
on previous week’s work
Tuesday
Lecture Evelia: Tradition and Vanguard
Workshop Formalism: read Bishop (poems TBA) and Brooks, "The Language
of Paradox"
(on reserve in the library)
Wednesday
Seminar On this week’s reading and lectures
Week Four Oct. 16-18 Nationalism and Internationalism
Read for Monday: Modernist Poetry: Selections from Tapscott, ed., Twentieth-Century
Latin American Poetry and selected poems from the U.S. (on reserve
in the library)
Monday
Lecture Evelia: Brazilian Modernism
Seminar Student led integration seminar on
previous week’s work
Tuesday
Lecture Greg: U.S. Modernist Poetry
Workshop Formalism: read Bakhtin, "Discourse
in the Novel" (on reserve in the library). We will work with
modernist poetry from the reader
Wednesday
Seminar On this week’s reading and lectures
Week Five Oct. 23-25 Reading Week
No class M or W, but: read King Lear and The Aspern Papersduring
the week
Tuesday Workshop: First essay assignment
due in class for editing workshop.
Week Six Oct. 30-Nov. 1 Nation and Region
Read for Monday: William Faulkner, The Sound and the Fury
Due Monday: Final draft of first assigned essay
Monday
Lecture Greg: Faulkner
Seminar Student
led integration seminar on work from week four
Tuesday
Lecture Evelia: Bringing the World
Home
Workshop Structuralism: Bakhtin and
Faulkner
(on reserve in the library)
Wednesday
Seminar: Film and discussion. We wil meet in L2204 (This location may
change)
Week Seven Nov. 6-8 Nation and Region
Read for Monday: Juan Carlos Onetti, A Brief Life
Monday
Lecture Evelia: Onetti
Seminar Student led integration seminar on
previous week’s work
Tuesday
Lecture Greg: TBA
Workshop Structuralism: read Ryan, 2.3,
2.4, The Aspern Papers, Barthes, "The Structuralist Activity" and
Saussure, "Course in General Linguistics" (on reserve in the library)
Wednesday
Seminar On this week’s reading and lectures
Week Eight Nov. 13-15 Nation and City
Read for Monday: Roberto Arlt, The Seven Madmen
Monday
Lecture Evelia: Prophetic Views of Buenos
Aires
Seminar Student led integration seminar
on previous week’s work
Tuesday
Lecture Evelia: Arlt and the Novel
Workshop Marxism: read Ryan, 4.1 & 4.2, King Lear, and Marx, "The
Manifesto of the Communist Party (on reserve in
the library)
Wednesday
Seminar On this week’s reading and lectures
Final essay assigned
Thanksgiving Break
Week Nine Nov. 27-29 Nation and City
Read for Monday: Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man
Monday
Lecture Greg: Ellison part I
Seminar Student led integration seminar on previous week’s work
Tuesday
Lecture Greg: Ellison part II
Workshop Marxism: read Ryan, 4.3 & 4.4, The Aspern Papers,
Bishop’s poem "A Miracle
for Breakfast," excerpts from Gramsci, "Hegemony," and from Althusser,
"Ideology" (on reserve in
the library)
Wednesday
Seminar On this week’s reading and lectures
Portfolio Due on Wednesday
29: Include 1st and 2nd drafts of first paper assignment, your integration
seminar paper, the final essay, and your reflective self-evaluation on
what you’ve learned in the program so far.
Week Ten Dec. 4-6 Transition to Winter Quarter and Globalization
Read for Monday: Toni Morrison, The Bluest Eye
Monday
Lecture Greg: Reviewing fall quarter and looking toward winter quarter
Seminar Student led integration seminar on previous week’s work
Tuesday
Lecture Evelia: Reviewing fall quarter and looking toward winter quarter
Workshop Marxism: read Ryan, 4.5, The Bluest Eye, and Fiske, "Culture,
Ideology, Interpellation"
(on reserve in the library)
Wednesday
Seminar
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Evaluation Week Dec. 11-15
Don’t
make travel plans until after you have spoken with your seminar leader
about evaluation conferences.
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