LIT 161: BRITISH COMMONWEALTH FICTION

Duke University, Fall 1999

Office Hours: please sign up on sheets on my office door or make an appointment

The class will be run as a seminar, though in the first part of each class the instructor will speak of the salient features of the topic(s) set for that particular day. There is relatively little reading for each class. This is so that we can work slowly and thoroughly. A lot of emphasis is placed on discussing the details and intricacies of the readings, so they must be done. As in every subject, there is some terminology to be learned. It may take you a week or so to become familiar with most of it, so be patient with yourself. You must always see me if you have any concerns. The books for this course can be purchased from the Textbook Store in the Bryan Center (tel: 684-6793). There are several editions of some of the works used for this class. To ensure that we will be reading the standard editions, please use the editions stocked in the Textbook Store.

READINGS AND MOVIES

The following novels will be read:

J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians

J. M. Coetzee, Life and Times for Michael K

Anita Desai, Baumgartner's Bombay

Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist

Nadine Gordimer, Burger's Daughter

Kazuo Ishiguro, Remains of the Day

Kazuo Ishiguro, The Unconsoled

V.S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas

V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River

Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient

Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things

Remains of the Day

The English Patient

REQUIREMENTS:

• You are reminded that a sound attendance record is a requirement for the satisfactory completion of all courses at Duke University.

 
• Short Papers

(1) One 6-8 page paper due on Tuesday Sept 21, 1999. For this paper read V.S. Naipaul's A House for Mr. Biswas and A Bend in the River (the former being an early and the latter a more recent work). Compare and contrast these two works. Give reasons for your conclusions, and deal especially with themes, content, characters, and plot. This paper should be double-spaced, and will constitute 15% of the final grade.

(2) One 9-10 page paper in which you read the novels by Gordimer and Coetzee on our reading list. All four novels deal with the subject of race in Southern Africa. Dividing your paper equally between the three, analyze the characters of the judge (Waiting for the Barbarians), Michael K. (Life and Times for Michael K), and either Mehring (The Conservationist) or Rosa Burger (Burger's Daughter). Deal only with their responses to apartheid. This paper is due on Thursday October 14, 1999, and should be double spaced. It will constitute 25% of the final grade.
 

• Term Paper

One 20-page research paper chosen from a set of topics to be specified by the professor when the class gets underway, first drafts being due as class presentations from November 30, 1999 onwards on the date allocated for each student. Final versions are due on the date of the final examination. This paper should involve library research, and contain at least 15 different secondary sources. It should deal with authors not discussed in the first two papers for this class. The paper should be documented with footnotes in the appropriate manner. This will constitute 60% of the final grade.

Tu Aug 31 Introductions

Th Sept 2 V.S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas, Part One

Tu Sept 7 V.S. Naipaul, A House for Mr. Biswas, Part Two

Th Sept 9 V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River, I and II

Tu Sept 14 V.S. Naipaul, A Bend in the River, III and IV

Th Sept 16 Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist, beginning to p. 82

Tu Sept 21 Nadine Gordimer, The Conservationist, p. 84 to end

Th Sept 23 Nadine Gordimer, Burger's Daughter, beginning to p. 108

Tu Sept 28 Nadine Gordimer, Burger's Daughter, p. 109 to end

Th Sept 30 J. M. Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians

Tu Oct 5 J. M. Coetzee, Life and Times for Michael K, Part I

Th Oct 7 J. M. Coetzee, Life and Times for Michael K, Parts II and III

Tu Oct 12 NO CLASS- FALL BREAK

Th Oct 14 Anita Desai, Baumgartner's Bombay, Chs 1-4

Tu Oct 19 Anita Desai, Baumgartner's Bombay, Ch 5-end

Th Oct 21 Kazuo Ishiguro, Remains of the Day, beginning to p. 126

Tu Oct 26 Kazuo Ishiguro, Remains of the Day, p. 129-end

Th Oct 28 Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient, Chs 1-3

Tu Nov 2 Michael Ondaatje, The English Patient, Ch 4-end

Th Nov 4 Kazuo Ishiguro, The Unconsoled, Part I

Tu Nov 9 Kazuo Ishiguro, The Unconsoled, Parts II, III and IV

Th Nov 11 NO CLASS

Tu Nov 16 Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things, Chs. 1-10

Th Nov 18 Arundhati Roy, The God of Small Things, Chs. 11-end

Tu Nov 23 Theoretical readings by Edward Said, Dennis Porter, and Aijaz Ahmad on Orientalism (these readings will be made available in class)

Th Nov 25 NO CLASS- THANKSGIVING BREAK

Tu Nov 30 Class Presentations

Th Dec 2 Class Presentations

Tu Dec 7 Class Presentations

Th Dec 9 Class Wrap-up

INTERNET LINKS

Here are some useful Internet links for the topics covered in this class:

• Voice of the Shuttle
• Sarah Zupko's Cultural Studies Center

Duke University Online Catalogue