ENG 383 Prof. Zahid Chaudhary
Spring 2007-08
Hargadon G100C
Magical States
What is magical realism, and why has it come to define a trend in contemporary postcolonial literature? Focusing on the relationship between states and their subjects, this course aims to explore the mysterious process by which nation-states come to represent the people. In modern literature this concern is often explored by postcolonial writers, film-makers, and artists, who turn to magical realism to represent the relation between people and the state. We will assume a global perspective and our texts will be drawn from literature as well as visual culture, literary studies as well as anthropological essays on magic.
Required Texts:
Fiction
Jorge Luis Borges, Selected Short Stories
Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus (1984)
Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007)
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967/ English Trans 1970)
Isabel Allende, The House of the Spirits (1982/ English trans 1985)
Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children (1981)
Anton Shammas, Arabesques (1986)
Patrick Suskind, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (1985)
Films
Ousmane Sembene, Xala (1975)
Guillermo Del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
COURSE REQUIREMENTS:
Participation:
Class Discussions
This is primarily a discussion course so you are expected to contribute actively to the class discussion. Some days I may lecture briefly, but the course is designed so that we address our concerns, questions, and insights collectively.
Papers:
You will write two analytical essays. The first essay will be based on your in-class presentation (See below). The second paper will be a research paper on a text of your choice. For all papers do not go over the maximum number of pages allowed; the papers are also a test of your concision. See “Grade Scale” listed under Course Materials on Blackboard to see the criteria for your papers.
Paper Format
· Title your paper
· Use standard font , in 11 or 12 point
· Number your pages
· Double-space , using 1 inch margins
· Staple or paper-clip your pages together
· No need to worry about a title page; your name, my name, assignment number, date, and essay title on the first page is all you need.
· Proofread and spellcheck
· Include a “Works Cited” list, conforming to the MLA guidelines
Academic Honesty
Plagiarism takes many forms, and the following list, though not exhaustive, will give you some guidelines on what is unacceptable in this class. 1) Submitting as your own essays or portions of essays written by another person; 2) Failing to acknowledge through footnotes and bibliographic entries the sources of ideas essentially not your own; 3) Failure to indicate paraphrases, ideas, or verbatim expressions not your own through the proper use of quotation marks and citations; 4) Submission of an essay or a part of any essay written for a course other than this one.
Presentation:
Once in the semester, each student will prepare a presentation that will establish guiding questions and concerns for that class period. The presentations will follow these steps:
I. You will find one piece of scholarly criticism on the text assigned for that class session; I am assuming you will familiarize yourself with several critical essays and will choose one that you find the most productive for dialogue. You will email this scholarly essay to me by 6 pm the evening before class.
II. In your presentation, you will go over the author’s main points (5-7 minutes) and then present your own extension/elaboration or criticism of the article (10 minutes). Think of yourself as being in conversation with the other critic. Most of the 10 minutes of your own criticism/elaboration of the critical essay will be based on a close reading of a passage from the novel or sequence from the film, which you will use to back up your own contribution to the scholarly dialogue. You should also prepare at least 3 discussion questions that will address the questions you continue to face in your own reading of the novel/film. This is an excellent opportunity to get your classmates to help you with your first paper (See Step III).
III. One Week after your presentation you will turn in a 5-7page paper based on your presentation. In the paper will have an opportunity to formalize and extend your own reading of the text, all the while presenting it as a dialogue with another critic and scholar. This will serve as Paper #1.
Grades:
I will assign a letter grade (i.e. A, A-, B+, B, B-, etc.) to your papers and presentations, and will determine your final grade by factoring in your class participation.
Grading Breakdown:
Participation 25%
Paper #1 (5-7 pg) 25%
Presentation 25%
Final Paper (5-7 pg) 25%
All essays and films are available online
COURSE SCHEDULE
Unit I: Nation / Community / States
Week 1
T 2/5 Introduction
R 2/7 Benedict Anderson, from Imagined Communities
Michael Wood, “In Reality”
Week 2
T 2/12 Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 100 Years of Solitude
R* 2/14 Marquez, 100 Years
Week 3
T 2/19 Michael Taussig, “The Magic of the State”
Unit II: Memory & Narrative
R 2/21 Fredric Jameson, “Cognitive Mapping”
Salman Rushdie, Midnight’s Children
Week 4
T 2/26 Rushdie, Midnight’s Children
Stephen Slemon, “Magical Realism as Postcolonial
Discourse”
R* 2/28 Rushdie, Midnight’s Children
Week 5
T* 3/4 Isbel Allende, The House of the Spirits
R* 3/6 Allende, House of Spirits
Unit III: Violence
Week 6
T 3/11 Guillermo Del Toro, Pan’s Labyrinth [film]
Wendy B. Faris, “Scheherazade’s Children: Magical
Realism and Postmodern Fiction”
R* 3/13 Franz Kafka, “Metamorphosis”
BREAK
T 3/18 SPRING BREAK
R 3/20 SPRING BREAK
Week 7
T* 3/25 Anton Shammas, Arabesques
R* 3/27 Ousmane Sembene, Xala [film]
Laura Mulvey, “The Carapace that Failed”
Unit IV: Heroes
Week 8
T 4/1 Angela Carter, Nights at the Circus
R* 4/3 Carter, Nights at the Circus
Week 9
T 4/8 Junot Diaz, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
R* 4/10 Diaz, Brief Wondrous Life
Week 10
T 4/15 Patrick Suskind, Perfume
R* 4/17 Suskind, Perfume
Week 11
T* 4/22 Borges, Selected Short Stories TBA
R 4/24 NO CLASS
Week 12
T 4/29 INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCES
R 5/1 INDIVIDUAL CONFERENCES