|
English
644, Fall 2003
Studies in the Novel |
 |
This graduate seminar will address the history, theory, and scholarship of novels and the novel genre. We will be particularly interested in the novel and the construction of modern identity via colonialism, nationhood, racialization, the rise of the middle class, and the gendered development of domestic and public spheres.
All students will write two seminar papers informed by the themes of our course and immersion in current literary scholarship. The papers should set forward a thesis or raise a particular question or questions about the novel that will focus our discussion of the work (5 pages). These papers will be made available in the course computer conference by Monday morning before our Wednesday seminar meeting and be responded to by all seminar participants before class begins. The confer,"engl-novel," can be accessed at http://vms.cc.wmich.edu/www/confer. The confer will also have items for weekly responses to assigned readings from Theory of the Novel. Note that writing on the confer can include hyperlinks to relevant websites. Class participation, including in-class discussion, seminar papers, and the confer will be 50% of the grade.
The final paper will be of a comparative nature, examining at least two or more the works from the course syllabus and drawing on literary scholarship (aprox. 20 pages). (50%).
Class participation is vital in 644; missing classes may lower the grade and missing more than 3 classes may lead to failing.
Dr. Webb's office is 723 Sprau Tower, 387-2605, and his
office hours are Wednesday 2-4 and by appointment. (If at any point in
the semester if you feel stress, English 644 offers free on-line therapy
from Eliza!)
Reading
____________________________________________________________
Theory
of the Novel: A Historical Approach by Michael McKeon (Editor)
(On 2-hour reserve at Waldo Library)
Oroonoko:
An Authoritative Text Historical Backgrounds Criticism (Norton Critical
Editions) by Aphra
Behn, Joanna Lipking (Editor)
Morning
Girl by Michael Dorris
Robinson
Crusoe: An Authoritative Text, Contexts, Criticism (Norton Critical
Edition) by Daniel Defoe,
Michael Shinagel (Editor)
David Copperfield
by Charles Dickens
A
Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain
Heart
of Darkness: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Criticism
(Norton Critical Editions) by Joseph Conrad, Robert Kimbrough (Editor)
God's
Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane
The
Death of Artemio Cruz by Carlos Fuentes, Alfred J. MacAdam (Translator)
Beloved
by Toni Morrison
No
Telephone to Heaven by Michelle Cliff
The God of Small Things by Arundati Roy
Provisional Syllabus
____________________________________________________________
Wednesday, Sep. 3 Introduction to the seminar
Wednesday, Sep. 10 Chaps. 1 & 2, A People's History, Oroonoko, Morning Girl, From Anatomy of Criticism by Northrup Frye (Theory of the Novel, p. 5-13), From Origins of the Novel by Marthe Robert (Theory of the Novel, p. 57-70).
Wednesday, Sep. 17: Robinson Crusoe, From The Rise of the Novel by Ian Watt (Theory of the Novel, p. 363-381).
Wednesday, Sep. 24, Wednesday, Oct. 1 David Cooperfield, From Origins of the Novel by Marthe Robert (Theory of the Novel, p. 160-178) & From The Way fo the World: The Bildungsroman in European Culture by Franco Moretti (Theory of the Novel, p. 554-565).
Wednesday, Oct. 8 Jane Eyre, From Desire and Domestic Fiction: A Political History of the Novel by Nancy Armstrong (Theory of the Novel, p. 467-475).
Wednesday, Oct. 15 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, From The Dialogic Imagination by Mikhail Bakhtin (Theory of the Novel, p. 321-331 & 338-351).
Wednesday, Oct. 22 Heart of Darkness, reading tba
Wednesday, Oct. 29 God's Bits of Wood, "Is the Post- in Postmodernnism the Post- in Postcolonial?" by Anthony Appiah (Theory of the Novel, p. 882-899), "Pedagogical and Performative Nationalism" by Allen Webb (handed out in class)
Wednesday, Nov. 5 The Death of Artemio Cruz, "Latin American Literature from the Boom" by Doris Summer and George Yudice (Theory of the Novel, p. 859-881).
Wednesday, Nov. 12 Beloved, reading tba
Wednesday, Nov. 19 No Telephone to Heaven, From Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism by Benedict Anderson (Theory of the Novel, p. 414-434).
Wednesday, Nov. 26 No Class, Thanksgiving Break
Wednesday, Dec. 3 God of Small Things, reading tba
Wednesday, Dec. 10 Final Exam 5-7
---------------------------------------
|
created by: allen.webb@wmich.edu |
 |
