Literature and Empire

Catalog description

Literature written in English from countries that were once part of the British Empire or some other European empire., e.g., India, Canada, South Africa, and others. ENGL 182C Literature and Empire (3) (GH;IL)(BA) This course meets the Bachelor of Arts degree requirements. ENGL 182C will constitute a wide-ranging study of literature written in English, including novels, short stories, poems, plays, and prose, from countries that were once part of the British Empire or some other European empire. The class will approach this literature from a variety of thematic, historical, and/or generic vantages. Authors under consideration will vary from class to class, but may include writers such as Chinua Achebe, Buchi Emecheta, Alan Paton, David Malouf, Robertson Davies, Ngugi Wa Thiongo, J. M. Coetzee, R. K. Narayan, Amitabha Ghosh, Salman Rushdie, Christina Stead, Thomas Keneally, Jill Ker Conway, V. S. Naipaul, Wilson Harris, and Michael Ondaatje. Topics under consideration will vary from class to class, but the course will often discuss matters of race and ethnicity, as well as matters of religion, gender, sexual orientation and global context, where appropriate. The principal emphasis of the works in this course will be the recognition of non-European/non-American societies and the differences between their culture and that of Europeans or Americans. The conflicts generated by clashing cultures will drive the choice of readings. By the end of the course, students will have studied works from a minimum of five different cultural perspectives. This class will also prepare students to consider social and cultural problems from a variety of cultural perspectives. Students will be evaluated by means of essays written in and out of class, essay exams, term-long reading journals, and class participation. Students should expect to complete a minimum of three written assignments in the course of the term. The course may be used as English Major elective credit or as credit towards the English Minor and will be offered once a year, when staffing restrictions permit, with 35 seats per offering.