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Vassar College
Fall 1996
English 254: "The Novel in English after 1945"
Linn Cary Mehta
Office: Sanders 218
Tel: (914) 437-5637
Office Hours: Monday & Wednesday, 2:45 - 3:45
Syllabus:
Samuel Beckett,
Malloy
, 1951
Chinua Achebe,
Things Fall Apart
, 1958
Vladimir Nabokov,
Pale Fire
, 1962
Thomas Pyncheon,
The Crying of Lot 49
, 1966
Nadine Gordimer,
Burgher's Daughter
, 1979
V.S. Naipaul,
A Bend in the River
, 1979
Salman Rushdie,
Midnight's Children
, 1980
Toni Morrison,
Beloved
, 1988
The syllabus is designed to address the development since
1945 of the novel in English, with examples from Europe and America,
Africa, the Caribbean, and the Indian Subcontinent. These novels represent
both continuity and change in a tradition defined first in England,
then in America (including Canada), and then in other areas formerly
under English influence, including Ireland, Nigeria, South Africa, the
Caribbean, India and Pakistan. The course examines innovations in technique
and shifts in definition of the novel, and the relation of Modernism
to Postmodernism, of Colonialism to Postcolonialism, and of Postmodernism
to Postcolonialism.
Week I
Monday, September 2: Introduction
Wednesday, September 4:
Things Fall Apart
, 1958
Chapters 1-11: 17-94
Week II
Monday, September 9:
Things Fall Apart
Chapters 11-25: 95-168
Wednesday, September 11:
Malloy
, 1951
Week III
Monday, September 16:
Malloy
I: 7-91
Wednesday, September 18:
Malloy
II: 92-176
Week IV
Monday, September 23:
Pale Fire
, 1962
Forward, 11-29;
Pale Fire
, 33-70
Wednesday, September 25:
Pale Fire
Commentary, 71-196
Week V
Monday, September 30:
Pale Fire
Commentary, 197-301
Wednesday, October 2:
The Crying of Lot 49
, 1966
Chapters 1-2: 9-43
Week VI
Monday, October 7:
The Crying of Lot 49
Chapters 3-4: 44-99
Wednesday, October 9:
The Crying of Lot 49
Chapters 5-6: 100-183
Week VII
Monday, October 14:
Burgher's Daughter
, 1979
I: 9-117
Wednesday, October 16:
Burgher's Daughter
I cont.: 118-210
Week VIII
Monday, October 28:
Burgher's Daughter
II: 214-324; III: 328-361
Wednesday, October 30:
A Bend in the River
, 1979
I: 3-84
Week IX
Monday, November 4:
A Bend in the River
II: 85-182
Wednesday, November 6:
A Bend in the River
III: 183-246; IV: 247-278
Week X
Monday, November 11:
Midnight's Children
, 1980
I: 3-138
Wednesday, November 13:
Midnight's Children
II: 139-410
Week XI
Monday, November 18:
Midnight's Children
Finish Part II
Wednesday, November 20:
Midnight's Children
III: 411-552
Week XII
Monday, November 25:
Beloved
, 1988
Wednesday, November 27:
Beloved
(Thanksgiving break)
Week XIII
Monday, December 2:
Beloved
Wednesday, December 4:
Beloved
Week XIV
Monday, December 9:
The Empire Writes Back
Final presentations and discussion
Reports and Requirements:
-
Reading log: as you finish each book, write one paragraph or more
giving your general assessment of the book and any questions the book
raised for you.
-
One midterm paper due Wednesday, October 2nd (5-7 pages): an analysis
of
Things Fall Apart
,
Malloy
, or
Pale Fire
, focusing
on tradition and experimentation in novels of the 1950s and 60s. I
will distribute sample questions.
-
One final (comparative) paper due Friday, December 13 (15-20 pages)
focusing on postmodernism or postcolonialism with respect to at least
two of the novels we have read, or two novels by one author, or a
novel from the course compared with a novel you have read outside
the course.
-
One oral report
Reports and Requirements:
Class participation
One oral report
Reading log
One midterm paper (5-7 pages)
One final (comparative) paper (15-20 pages)
Grading: Fifty percent of the grade is derived from cumulative
assessment--classroom participation, conferences, ther oral report,
and the reading log, in which you should comment briefly on each book
as you read it. The other fifty percent will be based on your written
work.
Books on order:
-
Samuel Beckett,
Malloy
, 1951
(Grove Press)
-
Chinua Achebe,
Things Fall Apart
, 1958
(Heinemann)
-
Vladimir Nabokov,
Pale Fire
, 1962
(Vintage International)
-
Thomas Pyncheon,
The Crying of Lot 49
, 1966
(Harper & Row)
-
Nadine Gordimer,
Burgher's Daughter
, 1979
(Penguin Books)
-
V.S. Naipaul,
A Bend in the River
, 1979
(Vintage International)
-
Salman Rushdie,
Midnight's Children
, 1980
(Penguin Books)
-
Toni Morrison,
Beloved
, 1988
(Plume Books)
-
Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths and Helen Tiffins,
The Empire
Writes Back
,
(recommended)
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