EN3262 Postcolonial/Postmodern writing

Course Description

This module provides an introduction to interactions between postcolonial literatures and “postmodern” writing strategies. It proceeds through a series of case‐studies focused on interactions in the global literature of the latter half of the twentieth century between the influence of colonialism in the field of political history and modernism in the field of literature and the arts. In addition to a close reading of representative texts, the module will also provide an opportunity for an assessment of the significance of “postcolonial” and “postmodern” to contemporary societies and cultures.

Course Aims and Objectives

· To examine the ways in which the influence of colonialism and modernism combines to shape key features of literature in the second half of the 20th century.

· To provide a critical understanding of how the uses of “postmodern” & “postcolonial” make sense of literary representations of experience in 20th c. literature outside the UK & the US.

READING LIST

Author, title, edition

ISBN

Publisher

Jean Rhys (1966) Wide Sargasso Sea , rpt. 2001

0140818030 978-0140818031

Penguin, or
New York Review of Books

Tayeb Salih (1969) Season of Migration to the North (rpt. Penguin, 2003 or NYRB, 2009) Penguin: 9780141187204 Penguin or

Salman Rushdie (1983) Shame , rpt. 2008

0812976703

978-0812976700

Random House

J. M. Coetzee (1986) Foe, rpt. 2001

014029953X

978-0140299533

Penguin

Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1997) House of Glass

0140256792

978-0140256796

Penguin

Arun Kolatkar (1976) Jejuri, (rpt. 2005)

ASIN: B002B6OARU

. New York Review of Books

EN 3262 Lecture Timetable

Lectures: Tuesdays 12 noon - 1.50 pm (AS1/0214)

Seminar Groups: AS5-0205

1. Wednesday 12 - 12.50 pm 2. Wednesday 1 - 1.50 pm

Week	Lecture Date	Lecture Topic	Seminar 1: Date-topic/Presenter		Seminar 2: Date-topic/Presenter
1	Tue 10 Aug	Colonialism
2	Tue 17 Aug	Modernism
3	Tue 24 Aug	Postcolonial-Postmodern	1. Postcolonial-Postmodern		1.Postcolonial-Postmodern
4	Tue 31 Aug	Jean Rhys	2. Rhys		2. Rhys
5	Tue 07 Sep	Tayeb Salih	3. Salih		3. Salih
6	Tue 14 Sep	Salman Rushdie	4. Rushdie		4. Rushdie
Recess	Sat 18 Sep – Sun 26 Sep 2010
7	Tue 28 Sep	CLASS TEST	5. Comparisons		5. Comparisons
8	Tue 05 Oct	E-Learning Wk	6. E-learning: Q&A		6. E-learning: Q&A
9	Tue 12 Oct	J.M. Coetzee	7. Coetzee		7. Coetzee
9	Tue 12 Oct	Essay due Tuesday 12 Oct
10	Tue 19 Oct	Pramoedya A.T.	8. Pramoedya		8. Pramoedya
11	Tue 26 Oct	Arun Kolatkar	9. Kolatkar		9. Kolatkar
12	Tue 02 Nov	Q&A: Comparisons	10.Comparisons		10.Comparisons
12	Tue 02 Nov	Project report due Tuesday 02 Nov
13	Tue 09 Nov	Conclusions
Reading Week	13–19 Nov	1 week
Exam	20Nov–4 Dec	100% CA: No final examination
Vacation:				Sun 5 Dec 2010 – Sun 9 Jan 2011

SECONDARY READING

[The list directs attention to some of the more prominent discussions of a general kind relating to the postcolonial and the postmodern. Students are expected to search out material on individual authors independently.]

Bill Ashcroft, Gareth Griffiths & Helen Tiffin (eds) The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (London & New York: Routledge, 1995)

Elleke Boehmer Colonial and Postcolonial Literature (Oxford & New York: OUP, 1995)

Diana Brydon (ed), Postcolonialism: Critical concepts in literary and cultural studies (London & New York: Routledge, 2000), 5 vols.

Thomas Docherty (ed) Postmodernism: A Reader (New York: Columbia University Press, 1993)

D. T. Goldberg & A. Quayson (eds.), Relocating Postcolonialism (Blackwell, 2001)

David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity (Oxford: Blackwell, 1989)

Jean François Lyotard The Postmodern Condition (1979, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1984)

Bart Moore-Gilbert, Postcolonial Theory: Contexts, Practices, Politics (London: Verso, 1997)

Ismail Talib, The Language of Postcolonial Literatures: An Introduction (London: Routledge, 2002)

Robert C. Young, Postcolonialism: An Historical Introduction (Blackwell, 2002)

Secondary Reading: Articles

Ahmed, Aijaz. `Jameson's Rhetoric of Otherness & the "National Allegory"', Social Text 17 (Fall 1987).

Bhabha, Homi. `"Race", Time & the Revision of Modernity', The Oxford Literary Review, 13 (1991): 193-219.

During, Simon. `Postmodernism or Postcolonialism?', Landfall, 39: 3 (Sept. 1985): 366-80.

During Simon, “Postcolonialism and globalisation: a dialectical relation after all?” Postcolonial Studies 1: 1 (1998): 31-47.

Jameson, Fredric. `Third World Literature in the Era of Multinational Corporations', Social Text 15 (Fall 1986): 65-88.

Jameson, Fredric. `Third World Literary & Cultural Criticism', South Atlantic Quarterly, 87: 1 (1988).

Kwame, A. A., `Is the Post- in Postmodernism the Post- in Postcolonial?', Critical Inquiry 17 (Win. 1991): 336-57.

Moore-Gilbert, Bart, “Postcolonialism: between nationalism and globalisation? A response to Simon During”, Postcolonial Studies 1:1 (1998): 49-65.

Mukherjee, Arun P., `Whose Post-Colonialism and Whose Postmodernism?', World Literature Written in English, 30: 2 (1990): 1-9.

Sangari, Kum Kum. `The Politics of the Possible', Cultural Critique, 7 (Fall 1987): 157-86

Tiffin, Helen. `Post-colonialism, Post-modernism & the Rehabilitation of Post-colonial History', Journal of Commonwealth Literature, 23: 1 (1988): 169-81.

Assessment

Tutorial/Seminar Presentation (oral presentation 10 mins. & write-up)	10%
Class test: 28 Sep (60 mins)	30%
Long essay: submission by Tue. week 9 (max. length: 2k)	30%
Independent project: submission by Tue. week 13 (max. length: 2k)	30%
Total CA: 100%	100%

Instructions on written assignments

(These are rough guidelines, to be implemented flexibly, but significant departures from the templates outlined below should not be undertaken):

Class presentation: Pick an issue or topic that you find significant or problematic in the text scheduled for that slot, and (a) describe the issue or question, (b) explain why you find it significant or problematic, (c) indicate some of the ways in which it could be analyzed and interpreted, (d) give your own brief interpretation, and conclude with some indication of what you perceive as alternative viewpoints about that issue.

Long essay: You are meant to (a) devise a question or formulate a topic (after email and personal consultation with the lecturer) on which a sustained argument and analysis is be developed, (b) keeping in mind the general approach taken in the module to how postmodern relates to postcolonial, and (c) showing how the text(s) in hand relate to either or both "post"s, (d) while also showing some awareness of critical discussions of the issues and texts in hand. The key thing is to develop your own sustained view about topic(s) and text(s), with some awareness of alternative arguments and positions. A bibliography of works cited is expected, which can be left out of the word count. The essay can focus on a single text from the syllabus or compare any two texts from the syllabus.

Independent project: You are meant to write a long essay more or less on the lines described above for the long essay, with the single key difference that the text(s) chosen (which are meant to relate to the topics covered in the module) should be OUTSIDE the syllabus: prior discussion with the lecturer is essential, and the choice of texts, and topic for the report MUST be finalized latest by the end of week 6, BEFORE recess week begins. A comparative approach is recommended, so the essay should tackle at least two texts. Suggestions about topics and texts suited for this essay can be worked out in consultation and discussion during the weekly seminars, which will apportion some time each week to such issues.

The logic of a module with 100% CA is to allow students scope for independent guided research, and it is with this in mind that each assignment should be undertaken.

Suggestions concerning Long Essay and Independent Project

INDEPENDENT PROJECT

Examples of authors outside the syllabus who can provide apt texts for either the essay or the project report: Note that there are many other authors apt for this purpose.

Fiction: Joseph Conrad, E.M. Forster, V.S. Naipaul, Hanif Kureishi (UK); Buchi Emecheta, Nadine Gordimer, Doris Lessing, Ngugi wa' Thiong'o, Ben Okri (Africa); Michael Ondaatje (N. America); Lee Kok Liang, Nick Joaquin, Alfred Yuson, Orhan Pamuk (Asia).

Drama: Athol Fugard, Wole Soyinka (Africa); Nick Joaquin (Asia).

Poetry: Derek Walcott, Kamau Brathwaite (Caribbean); Pablo Neruda (S. America); Agha Shahid Ali, Nourbese Philip (N. America); David Dabydeen (UK); Arthur Yap, Eric Gamalinda (Asia).

The point of both assignments is to show initiative in your choice of authors and arguments. Treat the list above simply as a pointer in a direction you will want to explore on your own.

Framing questions (for assignments)

1 What is the applicability of terms like postmodern and postcolonial? What are their limits?

2 How do the terms relate to issues of literary writing, genres, style, technique?

3 What are the implications for culture of descriptions which include the post-colonial or the post-modern as features of writing?

3 How does the “post-” as a phenomenon relate to what preceded it?

4 What is the relation between race, colonialism, and post-coloniality?

5 How does the economic, political, cultural as well as linguistic impact of colonialism affect and shape the post-colonial?

6 What is the relation between modernity and modernism in the West and its influence and consequences for the rest of the world?

7 How does displacement and diaspora affect identity at the individual and communal levels?

8 How do the postcolonial and the postmodern interact in specific situations?

9 How do issues affecting gender figure in the post-colonial/post-modern

10 Are post-colonial/post-modern global phenomena?

11 In what sense are the values and preoccupations of contemporary societies shaped or influenced by the post-colonial or the post-modern?

12 What are the ways out of the “post-” phenomenon, for individuals and for cultures?