20th-Century Japanese Fiction

Comparative Literature

Comparative Literature 121: International Short Story
Summer Session II, 2000, University of Massachusetts
Instructor: Beverly Weber, bweber@complit.umass.edu, Bartlett 15
Office Hours: Tuesday, 12 - 1 and by appointment
Telephone Number: Office: ; Home: 253-0196
Course Web Page: http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~bweber/summer.htm

for sample paper topics, click here

Writing Place in the 20th Century

Course Goals:

Enjoy the texts!
Improve critical reading and analytical skills
Improve writing skills
Receive an introduction to working with literary theory

Texts:

Required Texts available at Atticus Albion (Main St. Amherst) and on reserve in the library:
Heinemann Book of Contemporary African Short Stories, ed. Chinua Achebe
Three Paths to the Lake, Ingeborg Bachmann
New Islands and Other Stories, Maria Luisa Bombal
Love and Longing in Bombay, Vikram Chandra
The Youngest Doll, Rosario Ferré
Annie John, Jamaica Kincaid
Turkish Culture in German Society Today, ed. David Horrocks and Eva Kolinsky

Recommended Texts available at Atticus Albion and on reserve in the library:
Black Skin, White Masks, Frantz Fanon
The Wretched of the Earth, Frantz Fanon

Required Texts distributed as photocopy and on reserve in the library:
Mother Tongue, Emine Sevgi Özdamar
additional secondary literature

Requirements:

50% of your grade comes from demonstrating your command of the text:
- Attendance and active class participation (25%)
  - Readings done on time
  - Submission of questions for class discussion to class list
  - Vocal participation
- Response Papers (25%)
  - One response paper each (2 pages minimum) on four of the following: Chandra, Bachmann, Bombal, Kinkaid, Ferré, Özdamar
  - One response paper on stories from African Short Stories
50% of your grade is based on your performance on three literary analyses
- Paper 1: 10%, 3 pages minimum, on one text
- Paper 2: 15%, 4 pages minimum, on two texts
- Paper 3: 20%, 6 pages minimum, on three texts
- Paper 3 Peer Review: 5%

If you need extensions on paper deadlines, please contact me in advance. You may call me at home at 253-0196 or email me at bweber@complit.umass.edu. MAKE SURE THAT READINGS FOR CLASS ARE DONE ON TIME.

Schedule:

Tuesday, July 18th: Introductory Lecture and Workshop: Introduction to the Texts; Concepts of Place (Space, Nation, Migration, Immigration, Diaspora); Writing Literary Analyses; Introduction to Gordimer and Chandra

Wednesday, July 19th:

Nadine Gordimer (South Africa), "Amnesty" (in African Short Stories)
Vikram Chandra (India/United States), Love and Longing in Bombay: "Dharma"

Thursday, July 20th:

Chandra: "Shakti" and "Kama"

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Tuesday, July 25th

Chandra: "Artha" and "Shanti"
Maria Luisa Bombal (Chile), "The Final Mist" from New Islands and Other Stories

Wednesday, July 26th

Bombal: "The Tree," "New Islands"

Thursday, July 27th

from Frantz Fanon (Martinique/Algeria), Black Skin White Masks: Chapter Five: "The Fact of Blackness"
Paper workshop (draft of paper one required)

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Tuesday, August 1st

PAPER 1 DUE
Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua/United States), Annie John, 1-71

Wednesday, August 2nd

Jamaica Kincaid (Antigua/United States), Annie John, 72 to end.

Thursday, August 3rd

Audre Lorde (United States), "Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference" in Dangerous Liasons: Gender, Nation, and Postcolonial Perspectives. Eds. Anne McClintock, Aamir Muft, and Ella Shohat. Minneapolis: U of MN P, 1997. 374 - 380. (handout)
Points of intersection between Fanon, Lorde, and Kincaid.
Lindiwe Mabuza (South Africa), "Wake", in Contemporary African Short Stories.

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Tuesday, August 8th