ENG 441-007 Colloquium in Literature: Imagining Regionalisms



Spring, 1996
MWF 1:25, McKee 146
All books are available at The Book Stop,
931 16th St.

Professor Marcus Embry
L30 Michener
Hours: 11:15-12:15 MWF
3:00-4:00 Th
or by appt.: X-2111
membry@bentley.univnorthco.edu

We will read and discuss literature and criticism that addresses the US southwest and the issues of region and regionalism culturally, geopolitically and canonically. We will explore various periodizations or categories of literatures in the US, identifying common themes in the various literatures; at the same time, we will focus on various critical perspectives that organize the literature canonically. Thus we will gain a perspective on the relationships of place and identity within literary examples, as well as the relationships between place and identity that ground the placement of these texts within the canons and study of literature.

Note: at the beginning of each Wednesday class, each student must hand in a two-page essay that discusses the assigned reading. Essays will not be accepted late.

Weekly Assignments:
Week 1: Introduction
1/17-19 Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities

Week 2: Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities
1/22-26

Week 3: Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich. Selections from Philosophy of History.
1/29-2/2 Turner, Frederick Jackson. The Closing of the American Frontier .

Week 4: Austin, Mary. Cactus Thorn.
2/5-9 Austin, Mary. Selections from A Woman of Genius.

Week 5: Lawrence, D.H. The Spirit of Place .
2/12-16 Lawrence, D.H. The Plumed Serpent.

Week 6: Lawrence, D.H. The Plumed Serpent.
2/19-23 Sundquist, Eric J. Realists and Regionalists .

Week 7: McCarthy, Cormac. Blood Meridian.
2/26-3-1

3/4 Midterm exam

Week 8: Rothenberg, Jerome (ed.). Shaking the Pumpkin: Traditional Poetry of
3/6-8 the Indian North Americans.

Week 9: Rothenberg, Jerome (ed.). Shaking the Pumpkin: Traditional Poetry of
3/11-15 the Indian North Americans.
3/15 Proposal for Research Paper Due

Week 10: Saldˇvar, Ram˘n. Selections from Chicano Narratives.
3/25-29 Calder˘n, Hector (ed.). Selections from Criticism in the Borderlands

Week 11: Arias, Ron. The Road to Tamazunchale.
4/1-3
4/5 NO CLASS

Week 12: Arias, Ron. The Road to Tamazunchale.
4/8-12 Viramontes, Helena Marˇa. Moths and Other Stories.

Week 13: Viramontes, Helena Marˇa. Moths and Other Stories.
4/15-19 Silko, Leslie Marmon. Almanac of the Dead.

Week 14: Silko, Leslie Marmon. Almanac of the Dead.
4/22-26
4/26 Research Paper Due

Week 15: Silko, Leslie Marmon. Almanac of the Dead.
4/29-5/3

Final Exam Week

Course Requirements:
In addition to the weekly essays, you will have one midterm exam, one in-class presentation, and one research paper of at twelve to fifteen pages. As for the in-class presentation, we will discuss the nature of this assignment in class.

Grading:
Weekly essays 15%; in-class presentation 15%; midterm exam 25%; research paper 30%; class participation 15%. Note the amount of your grade that depends on class participation.