English M6510 Triumvirate Syllabus

MENG 6510, Eminent Writers –
A (Not So) Arbitrary Triumvirate

Syllabus

This reading schedule (as well as the section titles) is meant to be suggestive only. Take a plunge when you sign up for your talks/seminar facilitation, and please clarify the focus of your presentation with me in advance. I will then also direct you (you have done your own search) to additional specific sources, if necessary. All essay materials listed below are available online or on ereserve. Remember, your WRP are due at the beginning of each class! As always, please avail yourselves of CAL PAL, the Contemporary American Literature Pal, as a companion website to this course.

Week 1	General Introduction By Way of a Proposition: Way Chee Dimock, "Literature for the Planet", PMLA 116 (1) 2001: 173-188 What's Wrong With Literary Studies? Additional reading TBA
Week 2-3	Of MICE and Men: Transitioning and Spying For World Peace Ha Jin, *A Map of Betrayal* Arlif Dirlik, "Literary Identity/Cultural Identity: Being Chinese in the Contemporary World." Ha Jin, "The Art of Fiction," No. 202,Paris Review Ha, Jin, "Exiled to English," In Sinophone Studies: A Critical Reader, edited by Shu-mei Shih, Chien-hsin Tsai and Brian Bernards, 117-124. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013. Michael Wutz, "The Individual versus the State - A Conversation with Ha Jin," Weber, 31. vol. 2, Spring/Summer 2015, 4-16. Of topical interest: - Ben McIntyre, The Spy and the Traitor: The Greatest Espionage Story of the Cold War (2018) - China Legalizes "Re-Education Camps" in Xinjiang Betrayal I _______________________ Betrayal II _______________________
Week 4-5	Literature, Exile, and the Reach of the Big Brother Ha Jin, *The Boat Rocker* Media Censorship in China (Council on Foreign Relations) China's Censored World Writing Under Totatalitarian Regimes (6/18) Of topical interest: Kevin Kwan, Crazy Rich Asians (8/18), Crazy Rich Asians is changing stereotypes (NPR) Detention of Uighurs Must End, UN Tells China Boat Rocker I _______________________ Boat Rocker II _______________________
Week 6–7	Caught Between Two Worlds Jhumpa Lahiri, *The Namesake* JL official site including interviews and Readers' Guide Additional readings on CAL PAL TBA Michael Wutz, "Gogol + Nikil = Nikon? — Power, Place, and Photography in Jhumpa Lahiri's The Namesake." "The Place of Photography", Ed. Julia Faist and Kerstin Schmidt, Leiden: Brill (forthcoming) Mira Nair, The Namesake (2007, film screening, time permitting) Namesake I _______________________ Namesake II _______________________
Week 8–9	Radicalism Abroad & Nation Building: Naxalism, Ecology, and the Burden of Migration Jhumpa Lahiri, The Lowland (Dipesh Chakrabarty, "The Climate of History: Four Theses," "New Literary History" 35, 2 (2009): 197-222.) ---. " Postcolonial Studies and the Challenge of Climate Change, "New Literary History" 43, 1 (2012): 1-18. Reviews of The Lowland I, II, III, IV Of interest: Why Do So Many Contemporary American Writers Send their Characters Abroad? *The Lowland – Focus Questions* Lowland I _______________________ Lowland II _______________________
Week 10-11	Counselor Troi in the Maghreb: Literature, Genetics, and the Need for Empathy Richard Powers, Generosity and select essays/interviews in CALPAL Cognitive Science I, Cognitive Science II Marco Roth, "The Rise of the Neuronovel," n+1, 8, Fall 2009 James Wood, "Brain Drain - The Scientific Fictions of Richard Powers," The New Yorker, 5 Oct 2009 Joseph Carroll, "Biology and Poststructuralism" (to be put online) Generosity I _______________________ Generosity II _______________________
Week 12-14	The Endgame for Ents, or, Writing Over the Top: An Arboreal Epic for Our Time Richard Powers, The Overstory "The Inner Lives of Trees," Richard Powers in conversation with Steve Paulson Michael Pollan, "The Intelligent Plant," The New Yorker, 23 Dec 2013 Of interest: - Plants Can't Talk. But Some Fruits say, "Eat Me"to Animals - Amitav Ghosh, The Great Derangement (LSE book review) The Overstory I _______________________ The Overstory II _______________________
Week 15-16	Student Project Thumbnails, Artificial Summary & Conclusion
	* Essay hard copy due date: ???, ??? 2019, post-taxes * Please consult the Editing Checklist in the Toolbox for essential pointers regarding your essay.

MENG 6510, Eminent Writers – A (Not So) Arbitrary Triumvirate

Syllabus

MENG 6510, Eminent Writers –
A (Not So) Arbitrary Triumvirate