Latina/o Literature and
Literature of the Americas at the
University of Northern Colorado

ENG 436.003
Major Ethnic Writers: Helena María Viramontes & Maria Herrera-Sobek
Fall, 1998
Professor Marcus Embry
Office Hours:
Mo. & Wed. 1:30 - 3:00, or by appointment
351-2111
L-30 Michener
membry@bentley.unco.edu
http://www.unco.edu/eng/latina/


Synopsis:
This course is designed to focus on two topics, Chicana criticism and chicana author Helena Maria Viramontes. By combining social, political, and literary criticism with fiction, we will explore not only the critical arguments, but we will also explore the process by which criticism responds to and is made by creative writers. Since Phillip Sydney in the Renaissance, creative writers have intervened in critical discourse, and especially in the self-aggrandizing politics of the US academy today, critics have increasingly fashioned themselves creative writers. In the case of Helena Maria Viramontes, we will explore how this general trend is articulated in very specific ways in Chicana discourse, predominantly in California. As regards Viramontes, who is a very talented creative writer, we will explore how between her creative projects she worked with California academics to assemble critical anthologies addressing Chicana issues. And we will investigate how Viramontes's latest work articulates in fiction contemporary Chicana critical issues. Thus, this course will focus on the creative process as it is involved in both fiction and criticism, and we will also explore how this creative process is related to the construction and maintenance of community. Students will be expected to display proficient knowledge of the following:
the emergence and construction of Chicana voices and discourses;
the developments in Chicana criticism from its institutional beginnings in the 1980s up until today;
the relevance of Chicana issues to contemporary issues in pedagogy, criticism, literary history, and literary production;
the relationship between critics and creative artists.


Outline of Course:
We will begin by examining Viramontes's short stories (Moths) and then we will examine essays from Anzaldua's and Moraga's 1983 text This Bridge Called my Back and discuss the emergence and construction of Chicana critical voices and the role fiction or creativity played in this process. We will also address how Viramontes' short stories relate to the critical nexus of Chicana voices in the 1980s.
We will then consider the placement of Chicana voices in a wider literary field (Saldivar-Hull), and we will examine how Viramontes entered into this critical, academic discussion through the two books of criticism she co-edited with Maria Herrera-Sobek. We will also examine other articulations of contemporary issues and dilemmas in Chicana Criticism (Alarcon, Castillo, Rebolledo).
We will conclude by reading Viramontes's novel Under the Feet of Jesus and interpolating it into the historical, cultural, and critical fields and issues we have discussed.


Texts:
Available at The Book Stop (Available at The Book Stop, 931 16th Street)
Anzaldua, Gloria and Moraga, Cherrie. This Bridge Called My Back.
Herrera-Sobek, Maria and Viramontes, Helena Maria (eds.). Chicana Creativity and Criticism: new frontiers in American Literature.
Herrera-Sobek, Maria and Viramontes, Helena Maria (eds.). Chicana (w)rites: on word and film.
Viramontes, Helena Maria. The Moths and Other Stories.
Viramontes, Helena Maria. Under the Feet of Jesus.


On Reserve at Michener Library:
Alarcon, Norma. "Conjugating Subjects: the Heteroglossia of Essence and Resistance."
Castillo, Ana. Goddess of the Americas: writings on the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Rebolledo, Tey Diana. "Infinite Divisions: constructing identities and dis-identities."
Saldivar-Hull, Sonia. "Feminism on the Border: From Gender Politics to Geopolitics."
Viramontes, Helena Maria. "Miss Clairol."


Weekly Syllabus:
8/26 Intro
8/28 The Moths and Other Stories


8/31 The Moths and Other Stories
9/2 The Moths and Other Stories
9/4 The Moths and Other Stories


9/7 No Classes
9/9 This Bridge Called My Back
9/11 This Bridge Called My Back


9/14 Saldivar-Hull
9/16 Saldivar-Hull
9/18 Saldivar-Hull


9/21 Chicana Creativity and Criticism
9/23 Chicana Creativity and Criticism
9/25 Chicana Creativity and Criticism


9/28 Chicana Creativity and Criticism
9/30 Chicana Creativity and Criticism
10/2 Chicana Creativity and Criticism


10/5 Chicana Creativity and Criticism
10/7 Chicana Creativity and Criticism
10/9 Test


10/12 Chicana (w)rites
10/14 Chicana (w)rites
10/16 Chicana (w)rites


10/19 Chicana (w)rites
10/21 Chicana (w)rites
10/23 Chicana (w)rites


10/26 Castillo
10/28 Castillo
10/30 Castillo


11/3 Rebolledo
11/5 Rebolledo
11/7 Rebolledo


11/9 Alarcon
11/11 Alarcon
11/13 Alarcon


11/16 Under the Feet of Jesus
11/18 Under the Feet of Jesus
11/20 Under the Feet of Jesus


11/23 Under the Feet of Jesus
11/25 Under the Feet of Jesus
11/27 No Classes


11/30 Under the Feet of Jesus
12/2 Conclusion
12/4 Conclusion


Final Exam


Course Requirements:


Grading:
10% Class Presentation
15% Mid-term Exam
15% Final Exam
(10% Response Papers, if necessary -- 5% reduced from both exams)
10% Attendance and participation
10% Annotated Bibliography
40% Research Paper


Annotated Bibliography:
This assignment is not as hard as it sounds. Using MLA format, list at least twelve references related to women of color, Latina/Chicana or creativity/women writers issues; each bibliographical entry is followed by a three to four sentence synopsis of the major points and/or argument of the article of book. Internet web sites, encyclopedias and dictionaries do not count toward the fifteen entry requirement. At least two thirds of entries must be dated after 1990.


Research Paper:
Fifteen page research paper examining a text of your choice with my signed approval. You must cite at least ten references in the form of articles or books with a maximum of two internet web sites counting toward the ten reference requirement; class texts, encyclopedias, and dictionaries do not count toward the ten reference requirement, although if you use information from these sources, they must be cited correctly. Your paper must be written in MLA format. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade.


Paper Proposal:
You must write a proposal identifying the text your choose and provide a brief bibliography of relevant criticism, and turn it in for me to sign. This proposal will be turned in as part of the research paper. If you omit the proposal when you submit the paper, then you will receive a grade of Incomplete for the class.


Important Note:
If you cannot successfully write, reread and correct, and submit a research paper that merits a passing grade, you will fail this course.
I will deduct one point for each circled mistake, and these points will be deducted from the score your paper merits for content. Thus, even on the best possible fifteen page paper (A+, which is as rare as hen's teeth), if you average 2.7 mistakes per page, you will fail this course. UNC has extensive resources to assist students with writing. Use them.
Also note that I specify that you submit papers in MLA format. If you do not use MLA format, then I will deduct twelve points from your overall score immediately.
Read and remember this note. It is my experience that UNC students are good students who can successfully write in the English language. However, it is also my experience that often some students do not reread and correct their papers before submitting them. If this is your practice, change it. Now.
If you fail the research paper, you fail this course. Period.


Attendance and Participation:
Unfailing attendance 5%
Frequent relevant comments 5%
Frequent attendance 4%
Occasional pertinent comments 4%
Spotty attendance 3%
Couple, three-four good comments 3%
Crawling in bleeding 2%
Timid silence 2%
Name is mystery 1%
Outbursts, irrelevant comments -1%
Death in class 0%
Reading other texts or newspaper -2%
Rotting in class -1%
Chatting, disrupting neighbors -3%
Yes, Virginia, it is entirely possible to obtain negative points for your behavior. Don't.


Grade Computation:
100-90 A A+ 100 A 95 A- 92
89-80 B B+ 88 B 85 B- 81
79-70 C C+ 78 C 75 C- 71
69-60 D D+ 68 D 65 D- 61
below 60 F F 55 N 30 Z 5


Que les vaya muy bien.