Caribbean Literature (=ENG 297)

Catalog description

The Caribbean is key to any understanding of the New World. Caribbean Literature takes students beyond the islands’ popular music, food, and landscapes to an understanding of the formation of cultures from Europe, Africa, and India that have produced two Nobel Laureates. In novels such as Jean Rhys’ Wide Sargasso Sea , we see how love leads to the death of a young woman in the attic in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre . We’ll understand, too, why and how Aime Cesaire rewrites Shakespeare’s The Tempest to allow for the resurrection of the spirit of Caliban’s mother, Sycorax. Students do not need to know theory to take this course. Students may retake this course for credit when the topic/readings change with instructor’s permission. Satisfies the diversity requirement of the English major. Satisfies a requirement in the Africana Studies major (Geographic Region: Latin America/Caribbean). Satisfies a requirement in the Global Literary Theory interdisciplinary minor. Satisfies the Literary Studies, Creative Writing, and Rhetoric requirement. Satisfies the cultural diversity requirement.