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Nature of the course
This seminar focuses on British novels and novellas since the end of World War Two. It concentrates on novels favoring a non-realist approach. The course will privilege postmodern theory and metafiction as the principal (but not exclusive) prism through which the se texts will be analyzed.
Expected Student Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course you should be able to show a knowledge of some of the principal postcolonial works of British fiction in the twentieth century understand major theories associated with colonialism / postcolonialism demonstrate an understanding of different ways in which literary theory and secondary sources can be used in the criticism of literary texts know how to conduct research in twentieth century British fiction and postcolonial theory argue convincingly in oral and written form for an interpretation of a text prepare and write a research paper about a fictional text or texts
Required Texts
The following texts have been ordered from the university bookstore:
- Amis, Martin. Money: A Suicide Note. New York: Penguin (USA), 2010. Print.
- Barnes, Julian. A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 1990. Print.
- Beckett, Samuel. Complete Short Prose of Samuel Beckett, 1929-1989. New York: Grove/Atlantic, 1997. Print.
- Byatt, A. S. Angels and Insects. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 1994. Print.
- Carter, Angela. The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories. New York: Penguin (USA), 2011. Print.
- Fowles, John. The French Lieutenant's Woman. New York: Little Brown, 1998. Print.
- McEwan, Ian. Black Dogs: A Novel. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 1998. Print.
- Mitchell, David. Cloud Atlas: A Novel. New York: Random House, 2004. Print.
- Rushdie, Salman. Shame. New York: Random House, 2008. Print.
- Winterson, Jeanette. Written on the Body. New York: Knopf Doubleday, 1994. Print.
Course Requirements
BEACHBOARD. This syllabus is available on Beachboard. Grades for your various papers (except for reaction papers) will be posted on Beachboard once they are awarded.
ATTENDANCE. Regular attendance is important and counts towards your grade. If you are unavoidably absent please email me in advance. More than three unexcused absences will lower your course grade by a grade point. More than six unexcused absences could result in a course grade of F. See Makeup and Attendance Policy below.
READING. You are all expected to have read the fictional texts listed in the syllabus before the first class in which it is listed.
REACTION PAPERS. You are required to produce a one-page printed reaction paper (MLA style) for nine of the ten fictional texts in the syllabus on the first day on which it is scheduled. You may be asked to summarize your reaction near the start of the class, and should leave your paper with me at the end of that class. Papers will be graded acceptable (a check), unacceptable (a cross), or exceptional (two checks). Reaction papers will be accepted up to a week late, but will be recorded as late and treated as if they had had a grade point deducted.
ORAL PRESENTATION AND RELATED PAPER. You are required to undertake one oral presentation chosen from those listed in the syllabus. Your oral presentation to the class should last between twenty-five and thirty minutes including questions and answers and should be accompanied by a two-page typed summary (with select bibliography) photocopied for everyone else in the class. You will be graded for this element on the basis of a 5-6 page paper typed in MLA style that you will give me a week after the presentation. This should be an argued paper citing at least three sources - excluding the fictional text - concerning a major aspect of the topic of the oral presentation. Late papers will lose a grade point for each week late. [See: Writing Your Oral Paper - on Beachboard]
BOOK REPORT. You are expected to select one of the books listed in the syllabus under “BOOK REPORT” and offer the class a succinct summary of its arguments as well as commenting on their effectiveness. Your report should last approximately 15-20 minutes, and your typed report (mainly a summary but also an appraisal of it) should be 3-4 pages long and submitted to me at the end of the same class.
RESEARCH PAPER. In consultation with me you will need to choose a suitable
topic related to the syllabus (other than one already covered in your oral paper) for your term research paper by no later than 26 March (and earlier if possible). You will need to clear the topic with me (preferably by email) in advance. Your term paper of 12-13 pages must incorporate at least five secondary sources (from books, articles or reliable Web pages) as well as a list of works cited, using MLA style. During the last two weeks you will be asked to present to the seminar group an outline of your proposed final paper. You will need to distribute a two-page summary of it to all members of the seminar. The intention is for everyone else to help you improve your paper by suggestions and constructive criticism, as well as learning from other students' experiences.
Grade Point Computation
See the University Catalog: Regulations – Grades and Grading Procedures for definitions of grades A-F.
- Reaction papers, attendance and participation: 25%.
- Oral presentation paper: 25%.
- Book Report: 15%.
- Drafts and outlines for term paper: 5%.
- Term research paper: 30%.
Syllabus
- T 24 Jan Introduction: narrative fiction.
- Th 26 Jan Allocations of orals. Postmodernism.
- T 31 Jan Samuel Beckett: "Imagination Dead Imagine," "Lessness" (The Complete Short Prose 1929-1989)
ORAL: Comparative readings of "Imagination Dead Imagine" (select two or three from: Brienza; Finney; Hansford; Knowlson; Pilling, etc.)
- Th 2 Feb Samuel Beckett: "The Lost Ones," "Stirrings Still" (The Complete Short Prose 1929-1989)
ORAL: Beckett and language in one or more selected short fictions (cf. E. Barry, 2008; A. Banfield, 2004; and C. Locatelli 1999 in MLA
Bibliography; also Lacatelli, Unwording the Word, 1990; Pilling, Frescoes of the Skull, 1979).
BOOK REPORT: James Knowlson, Damned to Fame: The Life of Samuel Beckett (1996)
- T 7 Feb John Fowles: The French Lieutenant's Woman
ORAL: Darwin and social Darwinism in The French Lieutenant's Woman (Rankin, JNT 1973; Jackson, TCL,1997; Hagen, CE
1991; McDaniel, MFS 1985.
- Th 9 Feb John Fowles: The French Lieutenant's Woman
ORAL: The history of metafiction up to and including its use in The French Lieutenant's Woman (cf. Patricia Waugh,
Metafiction, 1984; Mark Currie, Metafiction, 1995; T. T. Benyei, 1995; Scruggs, MFS 1985).
BOOK REPORT: Linda Hutcheon, A Poetics of Postmodernism, 1988, pp. ix-123.
- T 14 Feb Angela Carter: "The Bloody Chamber;" "The Courtship of Mr Lyon;" "The Tiger's Bride" (The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories).
ORAL: Carter's attitude to fairy stories (see her editions and translations of fairy stories and her differences from Bruno
Bettelheim's interpretations of "Bluebeard" and "Beauty and the Beast" in his The Uses of Enchantment (cf. Roemer and
Bacchilega, Angela Carter and the Fairy Tale, 2001).
- Th 16 Feb Angela Carter: "The Company of Wolves," "The Lady of the House of Love" (The Bloody Chamber and Other
Stories).
ORAL: Carter's feminist stance (cf. "Notes from the Front Line") and feminist interpretations of "The Company of Wolves" or
"The Lady of the House of Love" (cf. Robin Ann Sheets, Apr. 1991, JSTOR; A. G. Macedo, 1998).
BOOK REPORT: Angela Carter, The Sadeian Woman, 1988.
- T 21 Feb Salman Rushdie: Shame
ORAL: Selected postcolonial readings of Shame (cf. chapters in Timothy Brennan, Salman Rushdie and the Third World,
1989; Aijad Ahmad, In Theory, 1992; also Cynthia Carey, 1998, and Jenny Sharpe, 1997 in MLA Bibliography).
- Th 23 Feb Salman Rushdie: Shame
ORAL: Definitions of magic realism (cf. L.P. Zamora and W.B. Farris, Magic Realism, 1995) and its uses in Shame.
BOOK REPORT: Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities, 1983.
- T 28 Feb How to research, structure and write an English research paper
BOOK REPORT: Hans Bertens, The Idea of the Postmodern, 1995, pp.1-108.
- Th 1 Mar Julian Barnes: A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters ("The Stowaway," "The Visitors," "The Survivor")
ORAL: Barnes's rejection of binary oppositions and metanarratives in favor of postmodern heterogeneity (cf. Jean-Francois
Lyotard, "Answering the Question: What Is Postmodernism?" online).
BOOK REPORT: Julian Barnes, Nothing to be Frightened of, 2008.
- T 6 Mar Julian Barnes: A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters ("Shipwreck," "Three Simple Stories," "Upstream")
ORAL: Comparison of art historians' interpretation of Géricault's "The Raft of the Medusa" as the beginning of the Romanti
movement in French painting (start with Wikipedia's thorough coverage; cf. Eitner, Lorenz. Géricault: His Life and Work,
1982) and Barnes's reinterpretation of it in "Shipwreck".
- Th 8 Mar Julian Barnes: A History of the World in 10 1/2 Chapters ("The Dream," "Parenthesis")
ORAL: Revisionist views of history and Barnes's A History (cf. Walter Benjamin's "Theses on the Philosophy of History" in
Illuminations and Roland Barthes's "The Discourse of History" online; also Jackie Buxton, "Julian Barnes' Theses on History,"
2000).
BOOK REPORT: Hayden White, Metahistory, 1973.
- T 11 Mar A. S. Byatt: Angels and Insects ("Morpho Eugenia")
ORAL: The Victorians' religious doubts (cf. Christopher Lane, The Age of Doubt, 2011) and Byatt's fictional representation of
their compensatory responses in "Morpho Eugenia."
- Th 13 Mar A. S. Byatt: Angels and Insects ("The Conjugial Angel")
ORAL: The biographical history of the interrelationships between A. H. Hallam, Alfred Tennyson and Emily Tennyson
including Tennyson's poetic elegy to Hallam, In Memoriam (cf. A. S. Byatt, On Histories and Stories, 2001)
BOOK REPORT: Alex Owen, The Darkened Room: Women, Power, and Spiritualism in Late Victorian England, 1989.
- T 20 Mar Ian McEwan: Black Dogs: A Novel
ORAL: The ambiguous role of the narrator, Jeremy, in Black Dogs (cf. Wendy Lesser, review, New Republic, 11/16/1992).
- Th 22 Mar Ian McEwan: Black Dogs: A Novel
ORAL: McEwan's fictional manipulation of time and history in Black Dogs (cf. Iago Morrison, 2003).
BOOK REPORT: Gérard Genette, Narrative Discourse, 1972, pp. 21-160.
26-31 Mar SPRING RECESS
- T 3 Apr Martin Amis: Money: A Suicide Note
ORAL: Charges of sexism against Money (cf. Doan, 1990; Miracky, 2003; Parker, 2006) and Amis's stance.
- Th 5 Apr Martin Amis: Money: A Suicide Note
ORAL: Amis's use of an unreliable narrator in Money (cf. Todd, 1990; Bernard, 1993; Edmondson 2001; Maczynska, 2004;
Finney, 2008).
BOOK REPORT: Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, 1991, pp. ix-66.
- T 10 Apr Jeanette Winterson: Written on the Body
ORAL: Lesbian/feminist criticisms of Written on the Body (Moore, 1995; Duncker, Stowers, 1998).
BOOK REPORT: Judith Butler, Gender Trouble, 1990.
- Th 12 Apr Jeanette Winterson: Written on the Body
ORAL: The role of different languages and discourses in Written on the Body (Winterson, "A Work of my Own," 1995; Borch, 1999;
Rubinson, 2001; Finney, 2006).
- T 17 Apr David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas
ORAL: Mitchell's fictional representation of a globalized contemporary world (cf. Larsonner, 2009; Schoene, 2009).
- Th 19 Apr David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas
ORAL: Mitchell's development of Calvino's If on a Winter's Night to structure his novel as a reflection of the postmodern
experience
BOOK REPORT: Hardt and Negri, Empire, 2000.
- T 24 Apr David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas
ORAL: The effects of Mitchell's play with different genres and narrative voices in the novel.
- Th 26 Apr David Mitchell: Cloud Atlas
ORAL: Mitchell's novel construction of subjectivity in Cloud Atlas (Finney, LARB, 2011)
BOOK REPORT: Donald Hall, Subjectivity, 2004.
- T 1 May Presentations of final paper outline in class.
- Th 3 May Presentations of final paper outline in my office.
- T 8 May Presentations of final paper outline in class.
- Th 10 May Presentations of final paper outline in my office.
- Th 17 May 5-7 pm: Final research paper due in LA1-302.
Useful web sites:
Plagiarism
If you use the ideas or words of another writer as if they were your own without giving credit to the other writer you are guilty of plagiarism. Please consult the Schedule of Classes (“Cheating and Plagiarism”) for details of the University’s policy regarding plagiarism. If you are found to have plagiarized another writer’s words you will receive an F for the paper the first time and an F for the course on a repeat occasion.
Campus Technology Help Desk
The CSULB Technology Help Desk in the Horn Center Lobby is available for students. The Help Desk can assist you on a wide range of computer issues including: Operating Systems, CSULB Email Accounts, My CSULB, Beachboard, Remote Connection to CSULB, Microsoft Desktop Applications, Anti-Virus, Internet and Web related topics,. Contact the Help Desk by phone at 562-985-4505, email to helpdesk@csulb.edu or visit them on the web at helpdesk.csulb.edu.
Withdrawal Policy
Students who choose not to complete this course should withdraw officially as soon as possible and inform me. Withdrawals during the first two weeks do not appear on official records. Withdrawals between the third and twelfth weeks must be for “serious and compelling reasons” and require signed approval by me and the department chair. Withdrawals during the final three weeks of instruction are generally permitted only for accident or serious illness. They require signatures from me, the chair, and the Dean of the College, who may require withdrawal from all classes in which the student is enrolled.
Makeup and Attendance Policy
For a definition of “excused absences” see the University Catalog: Regulations – Class Attendance. Excused absences require you to inform me a week in advance of your absence. More than three unexcused absences will result in the lowering of your course grade by a grade point or more depending on the number of such absences. Students who miss exams or fail to meet deadlines for graded papers for what I consider a compelling reason (such as a religious holiday or jury duty) may make up that part of the grade. It is your responsibility to arrange with me an alternative if you miss the deadline for an assignment. If you submit an assignment late without a documented excuse a penalty for lateness will be imposed. A student who misses the final exam or fails to submit a final paper in lieu of a final exam without a documented excuse will probably receive an F or an Incomplete, depending on the circumstances and previous work.
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