We will cover these books. They are now in the University Book Store.
Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart. Random House.
Guy Endore, Babouk. Monthly Review Press.
Sembene Ousmane, God's Bits of Wood. Heinemann.
Ngugi Wa-Thiongo, Matigari. *
Manlio Argueta, One Day of Life. Random House.
Domitila Barrios de Chungara, Let Me Speak! Monthly Review Press.
You must read Achebe, Things Fall Apart, and have written your paper on it, by Wednesday, September 15.
* I will tell you about this in class.
I will distribute handouts from time to time. These are also required, and you should save them in a file folder.
We will concentrate on literature from Africa and the Americas. These two continents are much in the news today. They are largely neglected in American schools and colleges. And one of every four Americans is of either Latin American or African ancestry, so these continents have a special relationship to the people of the United States as well.
All these novels deal with imperialism and colonialism, and the legacy of imperialism/colonialism which still today define the relationship between the imperialist, industrialized countries of Europe, North America and Japan, and the rest of the world.
The goal of this course is to use the novels to introduce us to some of the problems and questions which pose themselves both to persons in the colonized/imperialized world, and to those of us who live in the colonialist/imperialist world. I have chosen eight "themes" or main ideas, that recur over and over again in many novels of the non-Western world, to pay special attention to.
The novels' historical settings follow a rough chronological order. Slavery, and the beginnings of racism in the West, coincided with, and were caused by, the first great modern expansion of western imperialism, into the Americas. Endore's Babouk describes slavery and an important slave rebellion in late 18th century Haiti, but from the perspective of the United States of the 1930s. Sembene's God's Bits of Wood deals with some African workers' response to colonial oppression right after World War II in French West Africa -- what is today Senegal, Gambia, Mali, and Niger. Ngugi's Matigari deals with the betrayal of the fight for independence by the elitist leaders of the anti-colonial struggle, and the need for class struggle in the former colonies today.
The last two readings turn us towards American imperialism. Argueta's One Day of Life introduces the topic of neo-imperialism -- the continuing domination by the former imperialist power (in this case, the United States) standing behind the ruling elite in a former colonial country, El Salvador, in the 1960s and '70s. Finally, Domitila Barrios' Let Me Speak! is the non-fictional voice of a Bolivian working-class woman faced with truly barbaric, brutal exploitation by the domestic ruling class which is, in turn, propped up by the United States government.
Studying these novels, and paying special attention to these themes and, of course, to other themes that you will notice in the novels, will help us to discuss and think about some important questions, such as:
The classes will be mainly discussions of the reading rather than lectures.
Participation by the whole class in discussions is a must if they are to be interesting and worthwhile. In addition, considerable class time will be spent listening to, and commenting upon and discussing, papers written by the students in the class.
A typical class might be divided this way:
This order can be varied.
I will take attendance in class each day.
Excused and Unexcused Absences
Three unexcused absences will lower the final grade by one grade (e.g. "A" becomes "A-"); five unexcused absences lowers it by one letter (e.g. "A" becomes "B").
If you cannot attend class for whatever reason, I expect you to let me know by email; by phone; or in person before class. If this is impossible, leave a message the same day as the class. If you do this, your absence will be "excused."
If you fail, or forget, to do this, your absence will be "unexcused."
You should email me here. This is the best way to communicate with me. I do not check my voicemail every day.
If you are late for class -- after I have taken attendance - - I will count it as an "unexcused" absence unless you remember to tell me, at the end of that same class, that you came late.
If you forget to do this, your recorded absence will remain. I do this because lateness disrupts the class and group discussions.
The first two times you are late for a class, I will warn you. After that, I will count your lateness as an "unexcused" absence.
Please do not be consistently late.
Be sure to "send a copy to yourself" of ALL your homework assignments!
These assignments will be put on our web page after the end of the previous class.
They'll be shorter assignments, typically 150-300 words. In them you'll be asked
- to write about one or two passages in the book we are discussing, and
- to email your assignment both to me and to the other members of your discussion group.
You'll be asked to do this by the previous evening before class so that you can have time the day of the class, but before the class, to access your account and read the assignments from the other members of your group.
This means every student will have both written on the passages to be discussed, AND read the responses from the other members of his/her group. This greatly enriches the discussions!
You will use email very extensively in this course. All writing assignments will be submitted by email.
This will permit you to send your assignments to everyone in your group, and for you to read their assignments. This, in turn, will make group discussions much better!
As outlined above, you will have one essay on each book.
In addition, you will have two shorter writing assignments per week, which you will send me and your group. These will be assigned in advance, and will center on passages which we will discuss at the following class session.
This means that everyone in class will have read the book in its entirety by the time we come to discuss it.
In addition, every student will have reread, and written on, the specific passages under discussion at each class session. This makes class discussions far more fruitful.
8. Examinations and Grading.There will be an optional mid-term exam.
A final exam will be due at the time and place in the Course Schedule Booklet for this semester.
The final grade for the course will be composed of:
It may be easiest for you to email me at my email address.
Remember to put your last name, the letters WL (capital letters), and the date the assignment is due -- NOT the date you are sending it to me, on the Subject line of every email to me.
I will return, without grading or counting them, all messages sent to me without a proper Subject Line. See the example on our Home Page.
Sometimes you just have a question or comment that can be handled without seeing me personally. If so, email me and I'll get back to you within 24 hours. I check my email at least once a day, usually twice.
But there will be times you want to see me in person.
Back to Home Page for World Literature, Fall 2004.
Go to Schedule of Readings for this course.
Go here to the Homework Page.
http://chss.montclair.edu/english/furr/wl/wlsyl04.html | furrg@mail.montclair.edu | last modified 10 Sep 04