World Literatures in English

Spring, 2000
Final; Course Evaluation
Tentative Syllabus & Course Notes

 
Date 
Author & Text 
Issues & Supplements
  I. India and Pakistan
1. 2/24
  •  My Fair Lady

  • : major themesIndia
    2. 3/2
    religion, city ghetto & village life
    3.  3/9
    colonialism & gender
    4. 3/16
    Partition, Pakistan & women's identities
    5. 3/23
      II. the Caribbean
    6. 3/30

    Caribbean literature; Walcott
    poetry and pop culture
    7.  4/6
    • Holiday
    8. 4/13
    • Jane Eyre (excerpt: Rochester's description of Bertha)
    • Jean Rhys (Dominique) The Wide Sargasso Sea

    Caribbean women writers; Rhys
    stories of growth; slavery, & creole & female identity¡@
    9. 4/20
    (mid-term week)
    • Jean Rhys (Dominique) The Wide Sargasso Sea 
    • Group Report III  (NCTU)

    • Wide Sargasso Sea

    stories of growth and female sexualities
    10. 4/27
    stories of growth; the middle passage and African identities
    * musical example: Abeng: see explanation
    *Patois Dictionary.
    11,  5/4
    • Jamaica Kincaid  Annie John(Antigua)
    • "Children of the Sea" (Edwidge Danticat's Krik Krak) (Haiti)

    Annie John; Haiti & "Children of the Sea"

    Stories of growth and exile: 

    12 5/11
    • Group Report IV ¡]FJ¡^Austin Clark "Griff" (Barbados)

    Caribbean Popular Culture; "Griff"
    Caribbean Diaspora
    Cf. "On the Eve of Uncertain Tomorrow"
      III. Asian-Canada
  • 13. 5/18
  • Group Report V (FJ)(Chinese Diaspora)

  • Happy Together (¬K¥ú¥E¬ª) by Wong Kar Wai
  • Canada: Canadian duality, two solitudes
    • poems: Margaret Atwood
  • Chinese Immigrants (1), (2)

  • Canadian identity; Chinese-Canadian
    Happy Together

    "Tricks with Mirror"(reading)
    Canadian duality, two solitudes¡@What is the Canadian?¡@ 

    14. 5/25
    Group Report VI on a Canadian film¡MRude
     
  • Joy Kogawa Obasan (Chaps 1-8): Obasan+ Noami vs. Emily

  • Kogawa (1); Rude
    Immigrant expeirence¡@
    15. 6/1
    • Joy Kogawa Obasan
      • Childhood Chap 9 - 12 
      • Slocan school days Chap 20-
      • 24 

    Kogawa (2)
    16. 6/8
    • Joy Kogawa Obasan
      • growing up and final revelation   Chap 32- end
     
    Kogawa (3)
    17.  6/15
      Group Report VII(NCTU) 
    Double Happiness, Prey and Conclusion
    Final Exam Due 6/17  (Take Home Exam)
     
    Fu JenNCTU
    Musical Examples (for our students only-- username: iacd; password: iacd99):
  • India:
  • "Petition to Ram"  (a variety of muscial cultures)--by Jai Uttal, Indian born in New York
  • "Balinese Fantasy" -- by Zakir Hussain  (an Indian percussionist)
  • "Two Lovers" by Ali Akbar Khan  "Two Lovers"  uses Sarod, a 25 metal-stringed intrument carved from a single piece of wood, and is  based on a folk song from the Indian desert province of Rajasthan.)
  • Caribbean Area:
  • Abeng: The abeng us an instrument made from the horn of a cow.  It is played by blowing through a side hole located near the tip; the thumb is simultaneously used to change pitch by covering another hole at the very tip.  This instrument is derived from a West African design. . .

  • The abeng is used primarily as a signalling device.  During the days when the Maroons were at war with the British this instrument served as a vital means of communication.  . .  .By posting a network of abeng-men as sentries around their settlements, the rebels virtually ruled out the possibility of surprise attack.  [Today Abeng is used for various communication purposes, not just warning.]
    Abeng: This recording was made during the Christmas holiday, the only time of the year that the abeng can be freely blown.  The player is here ushering in the holiday.
     
  • Nyabingi: A pan-African-Jamaican drumming style.  Through its influence on Jamaican popular music, from ska to reggae, it has had an international impact.

  • The performance: These young Maroon men are using the traditional accompanying Maroon drums to play the Nyabingi style.  . . . In this spontaneious performance, the singers move through a medley of well-known Rastafarian chants.
  • Revival  Shows the influence of the Afro-Protestant Revival churches.

  • The recording: "Fight for War": This song, which admonishes listeners to fight for their cause, resonates with both Revivalist themes and the militant Maroon past.
    (The three songs above are from Maroon Music from the Earliest Free Black Communities of Jamaica)
  • The Mighty Sparrow "Dan in the Man in the Van" the song
  • Canada:
  • ("Suzanne"-- lyric; song; & "The Future"--lyric; song)
  • Atwood: "Tricks with Mirror"(reading)