Postcolonial British & Irish Literature
Sidney Burris
T-Th, 11-12:15
Kimpel Hall 203
Office: Old Main 517
Telephone: 5-2509
[email protected]
Office hours: by appointment & drop-in
Class website: http://readwrite.typepad.com/pocolit/
Goals of the Course
• To become a careful & spontaneous reader of literature.
• To begin an investigation of the recognizable temperament that characterizes the century.
• To contextualize the literature by examining some of the important historical, cultural, and
political forces that helped to shape it.
• To develop a critical vocabulary that is both specific to the twentieth century and cognizant
of the historical periods that precede the century.
Texts
• The Norton Anthology of English Literature,Volume F, Ninth Edition, ISBN: 978-0-393-91254-8,
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•
2012.
The Inheritance of Loss, Kiran Desai, ISBN: 978-0802142818.
The Quiet American, Graham Greene, ISBN: 978-0-14-303902-0.
Postcolonial Literature 2
Grading
40%
25%
25%
10%
10 reading quizzes (80 points, having dropped the two lowest)
Mid-term (50 points)
Final (50 points)
Participation, attendance (20 points)
Total Points
200
The following scale will be used to determine your final grade:
A
B
C
D
F
180-200
160-179
140-159
120-139
138 and below
Course Policies
• Reading Quizzes—I will give you ten reading quizzes over the course of the semester,
•
•
typically on Thursday (though you may have Tuesday quizzes), and they will cover Tuesday’s key
terms and Thursday’s reading assignment. Each quiz is worth ten points. At the end of the
semester, I will take your eight highest quiz grades, and that will constitute your points for
that category. Since I am dropping two quizzes, and since I allow two unexcused absences
(see below), I only give make-up quizzes for excused absences that are officially documented. Also,
the student is responsible for scheduling the make-up, if approved, at a time that suits both of us. I
will give the quizzes at the beginning of the class; so you need to arrive on time. You can learn more
about these quizzes on our website.
Late Work and Make-up Examinations—Examinations must be taken on the day that they
are scheduled. Exceptions to this policy will be granted only for the most pressing and
documented reasons in the judgment of the instructor.
Attendance & Participation—Attendance is important because a portion of the course will
be directed toward discussion. In fact, some of the material developed during discussion will
appear on the examination. I will allow you one week of unexcused absences—2 class
periods—but more than two absences will constitute grounds for lowering your grade by five
(5) points for each unexcused absence.
• Twitter—You can receive participation credit with your Twitter account (I
have a Twitter column in my gradebook). My account for the courses I teach
can be found at https://twitter.com/arklit (@arklit). If you have an account,
follow me, post your own comments or questions along with the hashtag
#arklit, and check my feed before each class. I’ll post comments, suggestions,
and other material that might even show up on a quiz. And I’ll include the
hashtag #arklit too, so you can search mine and the class’s comments more
efficiently.
Sidney Burris | Old Main 517 | [email protected] | 5-2509 | Office Hours: drop-in or by appointment
Postcolonial Literature 3
• Cell Phones, Recorders & Other Issues—The use of cell phones and other electronic
•
•
Week
devices, except for laptops, are strictly forbidden while class is in session. Silence your cell
phones and other devices and keep them in your pockets or your pack. Five (5) points will
be taken from your point-total each time you are found in violation of this policy. Also:
recording my lectures or our class discussions is forbidden, as is photographing the class or
class notes on the board in any way. Enrollment in this class indicates that you agree to abide by
all of the policies articulated by this syllabus and referred to elsewhere.
Academic Integrity—Please note the University’s official policy regarding academic integrity:
As a core part of its mission, the University of Arkansas provides students with the opportunity to
further their educational goals through programs of study and research in an environment that
promotes freedom of inquiry and academic responsibility. Accomplishing this mission is only possible
when intellectual honesty and individual integrity prevail. Each University of Arkansas student is
required to be familiar with and abide by the university’s ‘Academic Initiatives and Integrity' at
provost.uark.edu/academicintegrity. Look specifically at the “Policy” link. Students with
questions about how these policies apply to a particular course or assignment should immediately
contact their instructor.
Emergency Procedures/Inclement Weather—You are responsible for familiarizing yourself
with the University’s emergency procedures and polices. Regarding inclement weather: if the
University is closed, our class will not meet. Otherwise, and unless noted on the syllabus, we
will have class. If I must cancel a class, I will post the cancellation on my Twitter account and
send an email to the class. For full details about our University’s notification system,
RazALERT, visit the website, http://emergency.uark.edu.
Reading Schedule
1
8.23
8.25
Introduction to the class.
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth. Available online, or consult the class website.
Read pp. 35-50.
2
8.30
9.1
Lecture: “Colonialism & Human Rights;” Philip Larkin, “MCMIV,” 2783.
George Orwell, “Shooting an Elephant,” 2605.
3
9.6
9.8
Lecture: “The Great War.”
Wilfred Owen, all selections, pp. 2034 ff.
4
9.13
9.15
Lecture: “Eleanor Roosevelt & The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.”
Virginia Woolf, from Three Guineas, pp. 2706 ff.
9.20
9.22
Lecture: “Achebe and his ‘Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad’s Heart of
Darkness.’” Available online, or consult the class website.
Chinua Achebe, “Civil Peace,” pp. 2838 ff.
9.27
9.29
Lecture: “Amritsar, India, and Contemporary Literature.”
Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss, pp. 1-102.
5
6
Sidney Burris | Old Main 517 | [email protected] | 5-2509 | Office Hours: drop-in or by appointment
Postcolonial Literature 4
7
10.4
10.6
Lecture: The Inheritance of Loss, pp. 103-180.
Kiran Desai, The Inheritance of Loss, pp. 181-272.
10.11 Lecture: The Inheritance of Loss, pp. 273-357 / review for midterm.
10.13 MIDTERM EXAMINATION
9
10.18 FALL BREAK
10.20 Lecture: “The IRA & Irish Nationalism.”
10
10.25 Seamus Heaney, all selections, pp. 2953-2960 (ending with “The Skunk).
10.27 Seamus Heaney, all selections, pp. 2960 ff. (beginning with “Station Island”).
11
11.1
11.3
12
11.8 Lecture: The Mylai Incident.
11.10 Graham Greene, The Quiet American (pp. 84-180).
13
11.15 Lecture: Tibet & China: An Exiled Community Struggles for Recognition; video
interviews, viewed in class, with Tenzin Tsundue.
11.17 Tenzin Tsundue, Kora: Stories and Poems. Available online or consult the class website.
14
11.22 NO CLASS
11.24 THANKSGIVING
15
11.29 Lecture: “Politics and Personality.”
12.1 Nadine Gordimer, “The Moment before the Gun Went Off,” pp. 2790 ff.
16
12.6
12.8
Lecture: The Vietnam War.
Graham Greene, The Quiet American (pp. 3-83).
Contemporary Colonialism: Specific assignment TBA.
Lecture / Review for final examination.
12.13 FINAL EXAMINATION
Sidney Burris | Old Main 517 | [email protected] | 5-2509 | Office Hours: drop-in or by appointment