Self and Other

Spring 1997
Vassar College
English 101.52
Monday & Wednesday, 11:30 - 12:45 p.m.

Instructor: Ms. Linn Cary Mehta
139 East 79th Street, New York, N.Y. 10021
Tel: (212) 737-7487 (You may call between 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.)
Fax: (212) 472-7220
e-mail: LiMehta@vaxsar.vassar.edu
Office: Sanders 218; Tel: 437-5637
Office hours: Mondays and Wednesdays, at 11:00, at 1:00, between 2:45-3:45, and by appointment.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course will begin by looking at the representation of self and other in novels, poetry, plays, and essays of the early modern period. We will examine the tensions resulting from the disintegration of empire and its impact on the evolution of modernist and postmodernist literary forms. Readings will include such writers as Chopin, Conrad, Gide, Joyce, Eliot, Césaire, Woolf, Friel, and a work of postmodern fiction.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Thoughtful reading of all assignments and active participation in classroom discussion (25%). Submission of eight short pieces of writing (three creative, five critical - 50%) and revision of writing (25%). Work must be submitted on time.

READING ASSIGNMENTS

Introduction (Gender, Colonial Themes, and Issues of Form in the Early Modernist Novel.)

Women and Modernist Fiction:

Week 1: Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) and Modern Women's Writing

Monday, 1/20. Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own .
Wednesday, 1/22. A Room of One's Own , cont.

Week 2: Kate Chopin (1851-1904) and The Awakening

Monday, 1/27. A Room of One's Own , cont.
Wednesday, 1/29. Kate Chopin, The Awakening (1899)
Three European Novels : Colonialism and the Early Modern Novel

Week 3: Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) and the Congo

Monday, 2/3. The Awakening , cont.
Wednesday, 2/5. Heart of Darkness (7-76)

Week 4: Heart of Darkness (1899), cont.

Monday, 2/10. Viewing of Apocalypse Now will be scheduled later.
Wednesday, 2/12. Finish Heart of Darkness (7-76)

Week 5: André Gide (1869-1951) and North Africa

Monday, 2/17. Begin The Immoralist (1902)
Wednesday, 2/19. Finish The Immoralist

Week 6: James Joyce (1882-1941) and Ireland

Monday, 2/24. Begin A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916)
Wednesday, 2/26. Read A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Week 7: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man , cont.

Monday, 3/3. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Wednesday, 3/5. Finish Portrait .
Revisions of earlier writing due. By this date, you should have had an individual conference to discuss your writing and class participation.

MIDTERM BREAK: 3/7 - 3/23

Modern Poets:

Week 8: Eliot, T.S. "The Wasteland" (1922)

Monday, 3/24. Introduction to the modern long poem in a colonial context. Read and be prepared to discuss Eliot's "The Wasteland " in relation to Yeats and to A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man .
Wednesday, 3/26. Discuss "The Wasteland" (1922)

Week 9: Eliot, T.S. "The Wasteland" (cont.)

Monday, 3/31. Discuss "The Wasteland" (1922)
Wednesday, 4/2. Conclude discussion of "The Wasteland"

Week 10: Aimé Césaire, Return to my Native Land .

Monday, 4/7. Césaire, Notebook of a Return to my Native Land
Wednesday, 4/9. Césaire, Notebook of a Return to my Native Land
Revisions of previous writing due by this date.

Post-colonialism:

Week 11: A Postcolonial Play and Film

Monday, 4/14. Read and discuss Brian Friel's play, Translations (1981).
6:00 p.m.: Viewing of Apocalypse Now
Wednesday, 4/16. Translations, cont.

Modernism and Postmodernism

Week 12: Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse

Monday, 4/21. Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Wednesday, 4/23. To the Lighthouse
Second conference should take place by this date.

Week 13: Final Novel

Monday, 4/28.
Wednesday, 4/30.

Week 14: Final Novel

Monday, 5/5. Final Class.

WRITING ASSIGNMENTS:

First Writing Assignment ( II : due 1/29) (personal)
Think of an important incident in your own experience which brought up an issue of your identity in relation to that of another person: an issue of gender or sexual orientation; race, ethnicity, or cultural background; poverty, wealth or class. Narrate this experience in a brief autobiographical piece of 3-4 pages.

Second Writing Assignment ( IV : due 2/5) (critical)
Write an essay comparing the gender perspective in Woolf and Chopin. (3-5 pages)

Third Writing Assignment ( V : due 2/19) (critical)
Write about either or both of the novels we have read in terms of the encounter of the protagonist with a cultural "other." How does this encounter shape the novel? Does the imperial relationship influence the author's use of literary form? (3-5 pp.)

Fourth writing assignment ( VII : 3/3) (one hour)
Write a short "explication de texte" around a selected passage from Joyce.

Fifth writing assignment ( VIII : due 3/26) (creative)
Create in a short work of fiction or poetry a reflection on a character's coming to terms with identity in terms of some of the differences that you may have raised in your earlier writing or that we have discussed in class. (4-5 pages.)

Sixth writing assignment ( IX : due 4/2) (poetry)
Prepare a close reading of a passage from one of the long poems we have read and write a short essay which relates the passage you have chosen to the structure and style of the poem as a whole (2-3 pages).

Seventh writing assignment ( XI : due 4/14) (film criticism)
Write a critical response to your viewing of Apocalypse Now , in light of your reading of Conrad and other works during this term.

Eighth Writing Assignment . ( XII : due 4/23) (critical)
You may write on Chopin, Woolf, Joyce, Césaire, Eliot or Friel. Select one or two works of poetry or fiction and find an appropriate topic. You might choose to examine: (a) the colonial perspective in Césaire and Friel. (b) formal similarities and differences in The Wasteland and in Césaire (c) human suffering in The Wasteland and in Césaire (d) sexuality in The Wasteland and in Chopin (e) Portrait of the Artist as an "awakening" or The Awakening as a portrait of the artist, and look at the contrasts due to gender or style. (4-5 pages.)

Final paper:
The final writing assignment is your choice: it may be either creative or critical, but should be an outgrowth of all your writing in the course. The topic should be selected in consultation with the instructor, and the final paper should be 6-8 pages long.

All revisions of previous writing due by final class.