New American Literature
(Multicultural North American Literature)
Dr. Janet Zandy
Rochester Institute of Technology
Texts:
Christopher Columbus, from "Journal
of the First Voyage" (handout)
Commentary on Columbus: Howard Zinn
and Vandana Shiva (handouts)
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of
the Life... (Bedford Edition)
Maxine Hong Kingston, China Men
Leslie Marmon Silko, "Lullaby" (handout)
Pietro di Donato, Christ in Concrete
Sandra Cisneros, Woman Hollering
Creek
Sue Doro, Blue Collar Goodyes
Selected other readings and videos
Recommended: Ronald Takaki, A Different
Mirror: A History of Multicultural America
Concept and Approach:
In this literature course we examine
the diversity and complexity of the
American literary landscape. In particular,
we look at the intersections between
history and literature, the formation
of mixed or hybrid cultural identities,
the effects of slavery and migration
on the American literary imagination,
the loss of land, the struggle for work,
the capacity of writers to tell the
stories of their ancestors in a written
language that is strongly influenced
by orality, dialect, bilingualism. This
is a literature of resistance and reclamation;
it is gritty, complex, blunt, impassioned,
witty, and sometimes impolite. This
course is a glimpse into a "different
mirror" of a multicultural, class structured,
America.
This is a reading and writing intensive
course. You will be expected to think
about your own cultural identities,
learn about the cultural mix that defines
the new American literature, and read
from an historical perspective. All
readings and response papers must be
completed by the scheduled discussion
date. Attendance is mandatory. Unexcused
absences will affect your final evaluation.
Written Assignments and Evaluation:
- A cultural autobiography in which
you describe your own cultural identity.
Consider how it is shaped generationally,
how it is affected by location, education,
language, etc. This assignment also
can include interviews with relatives
or neighbors. (500-750 wds.) 10%
- Response papers to the readings.
These short papers (500-750 wds) should
do several things: identify the literary
work in terms of genre (autobiography?
fiction? memoir? poetry?) and offer
a brief summary; identify how the
text is a commentary on American cultural
and material history, consider how
this book treats one or more of the
themes of the course (for example,
migration, work, identity); consider
the author's own position as a cultural
worker. Finally, you should include
your own reader response by asking
yourself, "how does this text work
on my own thoughts about identity
and the American experience?"
[Required: Douglass, Kingston, di
Donato, Cisneros, Doro] 50%
- A final project or paper where you
look at one of the central issues
in the course and develop and explore
it more fully. For example, how does
the experience of migration or displacement
shape a literary imagination? You
might do this by reading another book
and relating it to the texts we have
studied. Or, you might show the relationship
between literary expressions and other
forms of cultural expressions, for
example, film, photography, paintings,
music. You could look at the issues
of the course from an historical perspective
and research the historical context
of a particular work (for example,
the construction of buildings in NYC),
the effect of the world of work, particularly
deindustrialization and downsizing,
on the contemporary literary imagination.
Or you could examine carefully how
a writer uses language to construct
an imagined reality. Decide early
in the quarter what question or issue
you want to explore further. Decide
on an approach that suits you. Consult
the bibliography and confer with your
instructor. By the fifth week you
need to make a commitment to a topic
and be prepared to discuss your final
paper during week 10. (papers are
4-5 pages) 20%
- A written response to a take-home
final exam where you discuss the texts
in relation to the major themes of
the course. 10%
- Your class participation is vital
to the course. 10%
Syllabus: New American Literature
Winter 1997-8
[Please note that you are expected
to be prepared to discuss the readings
for the scheduled time.]
Week 10: 2/17/98 The End
- Student Project Presentations
- Final Project Paper Due
- Final Exam Date to be announced.
New American Literature
Professor Zandy
"Narrative is the principal way in
which human knowledge is made accessible."
Toni Morrison
Themes, Concerns, Characteristics,
and Problematics of the New (Multicultural)
American Literature:
This is an essential guide to the
literature and the basis of your final
exam. Use this as a worksheet to develop
ideas, make additions, and cite specific
references to page numbers in your
readings.
1. Definitions of culture as dynamic,
hybrid, sedimentary (layered), generational,
not fixed or static
2. If culture is relational; what
is the assumed status quo?
3. Development of a consciousness
about your own cultural position (standpoint
or location), i.e., your own cultural
heritage and experience
4. The problem of the sheer quantity
of the material (and much more now in
print) Problems of organization and
genre and audience
5. Learning to think about this material
in a multiple rather than dichotomous
way
6. Reading texts in relationship or
comparatively--estabfishing narrative
threads between texts. Reading literary
works in relation to history and vice
versa
Key concepts:
- colonialism
- marginalization
- race, class and mender
- migration
- work
- border spaces
- fragmentation, displacement
- double consciousness, two-ness
- individual vs collective consciousness
7. Tension between the national mythos
and historical reality
- Language, texts, orality (orature)
body expression
- Multiple genre forms within one
work--intertextuality
- Different paradigms: the web not
the ladder
- Asking: what kind of cultural work
does this text do? Noticing the world
in the text and the function of the
text in the world
- Problems for the reader: are you
inside or outside the text?
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