Course Objectives:


Satisfies: Other Literature (1c); Genre Study (Fiction) (Fiction); Multinational (4a); Women Writers (4c); 2011 International Issues (3a); 2011 Women and Gender Studies (3c); and GER World Literature. 


-    to appreciate the interconnectedness of 20th-century world literature (comparative literature)

-    to deepen knowledge about global politics and culture and their centrality to literature (global studies)

-    to learn to analyze literary elements in short stories, novels, and dramas (literary criticism)

- to consider any differences and similarities between the way men and women represent experiences (gendered readings)

-    to synthesize writers’ representation of difference (ethnic studies)

We address the following questions: What is painful about growing up, and in what ways do narratives about growing up mirror the pain of the world?

In the first unit, we will study how the traditional fairy tale structure allows authors to portray characters' coming of age. At the same time, we will try to read beneath the surface of these tales, in order to see what authors might be saying about greater political, social, cultural, and gendered values in the modern world.

Literary Terms

I. Coming of Age: 1) reaching maturity, respectability, or prominence; 2) losing one's virginity. When it is used as an adjective, it is written with hyphens (coming-of-age).

Characters who come of age in literature do so through life-changing events that challenge them to leave childhood behind, and to embrace their status as adults. Examples of coming-of-age stories are often found in young adult literature, such as fairy tales, Catcher in the Rye, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, and Their Eyes Were Watching God.

II. Allegory: An allegory is a story that teaches readers and listeners about important values by means of visual cues. Many dictionary definitions cite the example of "blind justice," or the figure of Justice, who balances the scales while wearing a blindfold. This visual allegory teaches audiences that justice weighs issues blindly. Allegorical stories nearly always try to teach audiences about some moral or lesson.

III. Symbol: Allegorical stories often use symbols. In the example above, the blindfold symbolizes impartiality, and the scales depict fairness.

The Benefits and Trials of Online Learning

Positives:

- You will learn to communicate quickly and effectively in writing, a skill that is key for the modern workplace;

- Sometimes you can complete work at your own pace (although not always: see Online FAQ on Blackboard);

- Learn new technologies and build confidence in learning new tools;

- Less commuting to campus (and frustrations with traffic, parking)

Negatives:

- Difficult for struggling students: It is very important that you keep up with the work! Students who complete their work on time seem to have very little problem adjusting to online learning. Students who procrastinate and have a difficult time keeping to a schedule, however, often fail to complete coursework. So if you tend towards the latter, please consider ways to become more diligent about deadlines this semester. I am more than willing to talk to you about how to become a more efficient learner.

* Another way we will combat the issue of keeping up is that there will be no make ups of missed online classes. The only way not to fall behind is to keep moving forward! 

- Difficulties in absorbing the material: Some students report learning more during our live class days. It's very important to participate in all activities I give you for our online class meetings. Not only does incomplete participation count as an absence, I feel you might not be learning all the knowledge I aim to share with you.

- Technology: I am very understanding about any problems with technology you might encounter. Just email me about what's going on, and we will try to find a solution.

Other Questions? See the Online FAQ


Persona (from OED):

1. An assumed character or role, esp. one adopted by an author in his or her writing, or by a performer. Also: {dag}a dramatic or literary character (obs.).

    2. a. The aspect of a person's character that is displayed to or perceived by others.

    b. Psychol. In Jungian psychology: the outer or assumed aspect of character; a set of attitudes adopted by an individual to fit his or her perceived social role. Contrasted with anima.

International Personae: For your writing online, it might be helpful to have an alternate identity, a persona. This alter ego will help give you a (fictional) voice that you can work with this semester in your writing. Choose your own name based on your nationality and gender.

 

French: Female: Albertine, Amélie, Anne, Camilia, Caroline, Charlotte, Christiane, Córnelie, Denise, Eléonore, Elisabeth, Elisabeth-Louise, Françoise, Hélène, Héloïse, Joséphine, Justine, Louise, Madeleine, Marianne, Marie, Marie-Françoise, Marie-Hélène, Marie-Justine

Male: Alexandre, Alfred, Antoine, Armand, Benjamin, Bernard, Claude, Christian, Cornelius, Daniel, David, Denis, Etienne, François, Guy, Henri, Ignace, Isaac, Jacques, Jean, Jean-Baptiste, Jean-Claude, Jean-Christian, Jean-Jacques, Joseph, Louis, Louis-Philippe, Michel, Nicolas, Pierre, Philippe, Sebastian, René, Thomas, Victor


Haitian: Choose from any of the above French names; also Female: Patricia, Leila, Miranda, Nicole, Odette, Sabrina, Tatiana,

    Male: Emmanuel, Fabian, Ramses, Seydou, Sidney, Touissant


Senegalese: Choose from any of the above French names; also Female: Amy/Ami, Diop Eva, Mariama, Fatima, Fatou, Khady, Maria, Marième, Marietou, Yacine
    Male: Abdou, Assane, Aziz, Babacar, Djibril, Karim, Khadim, Lamine, Moussa, Mohamed, Oumar, Ousmane


Guatemalan: Female: Anna, Eva, Irma, Isabela, Maria, Lourdes; Male: Carlos, David, Eduardo, Felipe Javier, José


Japanese: Female: Aki, Aya, Akira, Haruki, Hiromi, Keiko, Kyoko, Masami, Natsumi
    Male: Aki, Hiro, Hiroki, Ichiro, Katsu, Kazuki, Keiichi, Kiyoshi, Masaki, Sho, Takahiro


Pakistani: Female: Abdullah, Fakhira, Fatima, Fawzia, Laila, Parveen, Shazia, Uzma, Yazmin, Yazmeen

    Male: Abdel, Ali, Hussein, Jafar, Kamran, Muhammed, Najib, Usman

Russian: Female: Adela, Alma, Alyona, Anastasia, Anna, Darya, Karina, Kata, Katerina, Katya, Elizaveta, Irina, Julia, Lara, Lena, Lenka, Luba, Magdalena, Marfa, Maria, Marianna, Nastasia, Olga, Sonya, Svetlana, Teresa

            Male: Antonin, Aleksey, Alexander, Augustine, Boris, Christian, Daniel, Dmitri, Dominik, Evgeny, Fyodor, Gabriel, Georg, Kolya, Konstantin, Kristoff, Franz, Ilya, Ivan, Jan, Jiri, Nicolai, Pavel, Peter, Paul, Rodya, Sasha, Tomas, Vanya, Vasily, Vladimir, Yuri

Write a short description of your origins. What’s your family like? Who are your friends and acquaintances? Why do you get up in the morning?

Review

see "Names in this Book," p. 215

1. Political Allegories in Haroun:

Allusion #1: The 2 Kashmirs

Allusion #2: Rushdie's experience with the fatwa

2. Fairy Tale Elements in Haroun

3. Why does Haroun meet people in the Ocean of Stories who resemble people he knows on earth?



 What do you personally think the use is of stories that are untrue?

Review of 9/27:
  1. What's the significance of the shadows?
- Shadow warriors serve Khattam-Shud and the "cult of the tongueless ice-idol Bezaban" (131), which means "Without-a-Tongue" (Rushdie 216).

- Duality of identity (132); cf. Carl Jung (archetypes, shared consciousness) writes about the duality of identity (anima/animus) that represents our conscious/unconscious and feminine/masculine selves; cf. Rushdie on literary archetypes (73)
   
- Part of the dichotomous world in Haroun (Gup vs. Chup) that loosely maps on to our political landscape, where speech and stories are permitted (the West) and where silence reigns (Iran). In the latter, fanatical leaders' identities take on their own personas and cast long shadows (cf. p. 154).

- "Haroun kept having the notion that the whole affair was somehow impermanent, that there was something not quite fixed or certain about it all, as if some great sorcerer had somehow managed to build the whole thing out of shadows--to give shadows a solidity that Haroun had no idea they could possess" (Rushdie 152).  

2. Why don't they confront Prince Bolo about fighting for the ocean?
- just in bello = just war (war fought for just causes)
- Bolo's insistence on fighting for Batcheat seems ridiculous (136), but so does his regime (102, 193).

3. What is the significance of 101?
1001 Nights (Arabian Nights)

anti-fairy tale?
 4. Blabbermouth

- Why does she take the disconnecting tool?

- What does she represent in the novel? (107)


Lecture 9/29

A. What does Rushdie seem to think the use of fiction (untrue stories) is?

1. Other points of view can create a democratic world.

- The democratic example of Gup (118)

- Stories are alive and dynamic (72).  They don't really belong to any one person b/c all stories come from other stories (73, 86).

- Does so-called reality have to be dull? (114)

- A "suspicious and distrustful" populace does not stand together in times of crisis (Rushdie 185).



2. Storytelling can be used for political purposes: to serve and destroy.

- 26: profession of Rashid Khalifa/Shah of Blah

- 88, 98: the Pages of Gup as propaganda

- "'Now the fact is that I personally have discovered that for every story there is an anti-story. I mean that every story--and so every Stream of Story--has a shadow-self, and if you pour this anti-story into the story, the two cancel each other out, and bingo! End of story" (Rushdie 160).

- This represents an attempt to dominate and control others' opinions (Rushdie 161). When that fails, fanatical leaders use terrorism (183) and idols (190).


3. They preserve language in a world where it is disintegrating.

- 31: crude and rude signs; "war makes people crude" (Rushdie 184)

- 57: world of acronyms (P2C2E)

- So a world where stories are being destroyed represents ecological disaster, or the destruction of an entire world.

B. Structure of the Novel, the Ending, and Narration 

"Crazy Iris"


What's the significance of the water jar?

Why does he use the iris as the flower? Does the loss of the military power have anything to do with the crazy iris?

- frames story

- juxtaposition

- paper / tissue paper : ephemeral (transient) -- civilization deteriorating

Could the metaphor of the "crazy iris" be used in a contemporary sense. As in, could we relate it to our time?

"Human Ashes" (1966)


- Why does he write about sexuality?

Peversion > his coming of age / maturation has been destroyed

- What's the relevance of God on p. 78?

- What's the significance of the colors of the ashes of the bodies?

"Empty Can" (1978)


- The can is not empty, but their wombs are.

- Shame mentioned in first paragraph with memory of faulty plumbing (128).

- Multiple protagonists, perspectives typical of women's writing (écriture féminine)

"The Colorless Paintings" (1961)


- The impossibility of understanding the full ramifications of the shame of the bomb


What is the difference between male writing on the A-Bomb ("Crazy Iris," "Human Ashes") and female writing about the same event ("Colorless Paintings," "Empty Can," Hiroshima mon amour)?

NB: women's writing [écriture féminine] (Clément and Cixous), gynocentric writing

Male: "Crazy Iris" (Ibuse) and "Human Ashes" (Oda)

Events-centered
Narrators have names, identities
Sexuality part of story
Immediate composition
Solo narrators

"Colorless Paintings" (Sata) and "Empty Can" (Hayashi)

-    anonymous characters and narrators
-    long-term effects on sexuality, bodies, and emotions
-    focused on emotions, not events
-    written from a mature perspective
-    community of voices
-    coming of age interrupted / delayed?

Citation: When citing a story from the anthology Crazy Iris, you must cite the author of the story, not the editor (Oe).

Midterm Review

Find examples of literary elements allegory, irony, juxtaposition, keywords, metaphor, motif, oxymoron, simile, symbol, and/or word choice in the following texts:

"Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp;" Duras, Hiroshima mon amour; Hayashi, "The Empty Can;" Ibuse, "Crazy Iris;" "Jack and the Beanstalk;" Oda, "Human Ashes;" Rushdie, Haroun and the Sea of Stories; and Sata, "Colorless Paintings"

Review

Questions about iTunes lecture

How old are Mireille and Ousmane?

What were the students in Paris revolting against specifically. I know it was against establishment but what kind? What exactly were their grievances?"

What inspired Ba to write this novel?

Ques. 1: Max, Myah

Ques. 2: Sabina, Jessica

Ques. 3: Consider also Ousmane's continued obedience to his parents (84-5), and Mireille's lack of consideration for community and religion (90-3)


Library Tutorial

A. Articles and Databases

General Databases:

1. EBSCO

- select Scholarly (Peer Reviewed) Sources

* search term Rushdie and Haroun

2. JSTOR

3. Project Muse

4. ProQuest

B. Books and Media

- university presses
- chapters
- keep button
- keyword search: Senegal French

C. Subject Databases

Anthropology > HRAF

- iris and Japan

History > Historical Abstracts

- try atom* and Japan
- * allows it to search with anything with atom in it (atomic and atom bomb)

Language and Literature > MLA

>> Language  / Literature:

* Rushdie sometimes spelled Salmon Rushdie
* Look at bibliography of other works to find others
* Endnote Web (Library > Services > Endnote Web)

Psychology > Gender Watch

- children and Cinderella

How can you tell if it's peer reviewed?

- University press, author who's a professor, uses other scholarly sources
- select on EBSCO, Proj. Muse, JSTOR, ProQuest
- check journal page, submission guidelines
Review

Final Exam

- Tests the extent to which you have learned critical thinking skills, and the ability to read closely and connect literature to major issues in the world

- Strategies for review: rereading, online lectures, student journals

I, Rigoberta Menchu

- Importance of her father in her educational upbringing

- What does her serve her political agenda to portray Indian women as chaste, modest, and different than ladinos?

Peer Review of Research Synopsis

Read another student's paper and then help him or her by suggesting how these criteria might be met.

1) Introduction + Argument: Does it have an introductory paragraph outlining the research question(s), and narrating what motivated the writer to choose this topic?

2) Support: Does it include at least a paragraph about each of the sources and share how each item was located? about how the source addresses the research question? Does the summary of each article include an annotated bibliography that answers the following questions?

•    What is the argument?
•    What main points does the author make?
•    What type of evidence does he or she use?
•    What audience is this piece directed towards?
•    What scholastic debate or intellectual tradition is this piece a part of? What kind of bias might the author have?

3) Conclusion: Does the synopsis have a conclusion? The conclusion should argue what this research has done to change your perspective on the primary literary work. What additional angle does this piece give you on your chosen book? Or, is your own response more valuable than the criticism or extra-literary material you found? If so, what is that reader’s response?

4) Style: Suggest where writing can be improved. Students may use “I” in this narrative, but please avoid the word “you.”

5) Citation: Is it always clear where another author's ideas begin, and the writer's ideas end? You must distinguish between your ideas and those of the authors you are reporting on. You must cite every time you report an author's ideas, not only by citing page numbers, but also by indicating through words and phrasing ("According to Smith's book Literature . . . "; "The author of this article argues . . . ") that you are reporting second-hand information. Failure to do so could result in a 0 on this paper, because pretending another's ideas are your own constitutes plagiarism.

6) If the paper does not already have a creative title, suggest one.

Groups:

I: Fairy Tales and Haroun

II: Atomic Bomb

III: Scarlet Song and Menchu

In groups, talk about your research question; what you found out; how you found it; and in what ways your perspective about the literary text has changed (or not).
Journal Portfolios:

Share what you learned about close literary analysis; your own strengths and weaknesses as a writer; and your favorite journal (your own or other students')



Review for Final Exam

Ba

1. What colonialism means to you, and to Ba.

Gennette: Forces you to change to fit another culture's view (cf. Ba 99).

Chang: an attempt by one culture to expand by destroying overrunning another culture's identity (Japan/Korea)

Sabina: the control of one country by another for economic means (Britain/Kenya)

Myah: loss of freedom

2. What seems fair about African women's lives in Ba's novel?

all: polygamy

Gennette: competition, choices/community

Jessica + Alyssa + Myah: women take over work from mother-in-law

Sabina: women's lack of economic resources vs. their economic responsibilities for their families; lack of unity among the women