Course
Description for English 386 – Lehigh University
Instructor:
Amardeep Singh
Post-Colonial
Literature in English
I. Introduction
II.
Authors, Resources, and Handouts
III. Weekly Readings (Schedule)
Postcolonial literature refers to writing from
regions of the world that were once colonies of European powers. The term
refers to a very broad swath of writing in many languages, but the emphasis in
this class (in an English department) is on writing in English. The writers in
this course come from quite different backgrounds, including Africa, South
Asia, and the Caribbean, but they struggle with some similar issues, chief among
them being the legacy of colonialism – of European dominance. Postcolonial
literature is of particular importance partly because much of it is
stylistically original and different from earlier European literature, (one
thinks of the number of postcolonial writers who have received prestigious
literary prizes in recent years). But postcolonial writing is also important
because the texts – as literature – have the potential provide
perspectives on the world that are unavailable from textbooks and the newsmedia.
The best postcolonial literature aims to tell good, entertaining stories while
seriously attempting to represent some of the most troubling conflicts and
injustices imaginable.
Postcolonial writers attempt to develop their own
literary voices in regions of the world that may have been described in the
colonial era as “primitive” or “savage” – where literature and culture were
considered absent or somehow illegitimate. The larger project of moving past
this colonial legacy, what we might call the “decolonization” of writing,
brings up a wide array of themes, each of which we will address in turn. To
begin with, there are issues that affect writing itself, such as choice of
language. Many postcolonial writers choose to write in the languages of the
former colonial power (i.e., English, French, Spanish, Portuguese), though this
can be a source of serious disagreement. Moreover, much postcolonial writing is
highly sensitive to how language is used, and by whom. There is a
serious consideration of the role of dialects, patois – the intentional,
potentially liberatory use of what one African writer calls “rotten
English.”
Relatedly, postcolonial writers are compelled to
find suitable and original shapes in which to represent their particular
cultural experiences and historical perspectives. The novel-form is a European
construct – is it malleable enough to tell the story of villagers in Zimbabwe,
Punjab, or Trinidad? One answer to this problem, a mode of writing known as magical
realism, blends traditional storytelling practices (some of which may be
oral) with western modes of narration. Salman Rushdie’s Midnight’s Children,
which we will read, is one of the best examples of the deployment of the
magical realist style. We will discuss each of these issues of form as we
progress; we will also refer to some critical and theoretical texts that map
out these and other formal concerns.
In this course literature, politics, and social
theory will be inextricable for the simple reason that the texts themselves are
intensely concerned with social and political problems. The postcolonial
experience has been extremely violent and complex, with new forms of oppression
and violence often replacing the old structures. The past 50 odd years have
seen innumerable conflicts around the definition of the nation in the
postcolonial world. Other conflicts have circulated around issues such as
ethnicity, race, religion, and cultural difference. And nearly
everywhere are negotiations of gender and sexuality, which are in the
foreground in virtually everything we will read. Responding to these problems
requires a good deal of particular historical and cultural knowledge relevant
to given issues or struggles, and I will encourage members of the class to
pursue and develop knowledge related to given texts (for example, Sara Suleri’s
Meatless Days might provoke research on the history of Pakistan).
Finally, we will talk quite often about diasporization
and displacement. Because they often express ideas that are controversial
in their home countries, many postcolonial writers find themselves in exile,
sometimes in the capitals of the former Imperial regime (a surprising number of
the writers in this course currently live in London). Others are members of
immigrant populations who have moved from postcolonial locales to European and
American metropolitan centers, in search of economic opportunity. Yet others
(especially Caribbean writers like Naipaul and Phillips) are descendents of
people who were displaced against their will – slaves and indentured laborers.
As a result of all of these factors, displacement and exile are central themes
in postcolonial writing.
V.S.
Naipaul,
“Prologue to an Autobiography.”
Naipaul grew up in Trinidad and now lives in England; he recently won the Nobel Prize for literature. The “Prologue” is about how Naipaul came to become a writer.
Online resources on Naipaul and other Caribbean writers
J.M.
Coetzee, Waiting for the Barbarians
J.M. Coetzee is a South African
writer whose works explore the nature of violence in a stratified postcolonial
society.
Additional readings:
Handout on
Coetzee (NEW)
Online
resources on Coetzee and other South African writers
Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions
Tsitsi Dangarembga is a Zimbabwean woman novelist. This novel tells the story of a young girl’s struggle to get an education and stay sane in an environment where education for women often produces anxiety, loneliness, and deracination.
Additional readings:
Online resources on Dangarembga and other African writers
Salman
Rushdie, Midnight’s Children
Salman
Rushdie grew up in India and now lives in England. This is his first novel; it
tells a playful, idiosyncratic version of Indian independence through a “magic
realist” lens.
Additional
readings:
Online
resources on Rushdie
Khushwant
Singh, Train
to Pakistan
Khushwant Singh lives in India. This is an early narrative of the South Asian “partition,” and foregrounds the theme of religious conflict in the Indian subcontinent through an inter-religious romance.
Additional readings:
Online resources on Singh and other partition novelists
Amitav
Ghosh, The
Shadow Lines
Amitav Ghosh grew up in India and now lives in New York. This novel is a romance in a time of war; set in England and India in the 1970s.
Additional readings
Online resources on Ghosh
Sara
Suleri Meatless Days (a
memoir)
Sara Suleri was born in Pakistan and now lives in New Haven, CT. This is her memoir of growing up the daughter of a prominent journalist in Pakistan, during a period of political instability.
Additional readings
Online resources on Suleri
Zadie Smith, White Teeth
Zadie Smith is a very young writer
who lives in England. This is novel about immigrant histories in England.
Additional readings
Online
resources on Smith
Caryl Phillips, The Atlantic Sound (a memoir)
Caryl Phillips was born in St. Kitts in the West Indies (Caribbean). This is a memoir of travels to Africa, England, and Israel.
Online
resources on Phillips and other Caribbean writers
(Note: the symbol (@)
refers to materials available or due online)
January
16: Introduction; Read and discuss Agha Shahid Ali's "Blessed Word"
January
18: Newspaper articles on Michael Hardt (@); excerpts from Empire (@)
January
22: Scholar Michael Hardt visits campus (afternoon lecture required).
January
25: Coetzee, 115-End of book (response to Coetzee)
January
28: Suleri 1-72
January
30: Suleri, 73-130
February
1: Suleri, 131-end of book; (response to Suleri)
February
4: Suleri; Naipaul on Pakistan (@)
February
8: Naipaul’s “Prelude”; (response to Naipaul)
February
11: No class (Pacing Break)
February
13: The Shadow Lines 3-112
February
15: The Shadow Lines 114-154
February
18: The Shadow Lines 154-end of book
February
22: Sri Lankan Short stories (Arasanayagam, Gunesekera) (@)
February
25: The Atlantic Sound
February
27: The Atlantic Sound
March 1: First
Paper Due (5-7 pages) (on The Shadow Lines, Meatless Days, or
Waiting for the Barbarians)
March 4-8: No class (spring
break)
March
11: The Atlantic Sound
March
13: Finish The Atlantic Sound; Response to The Atlantic Sound due
March
15: Nervous Conditions 1-57
March
20: Nervous Conditions 103-148
March
22: Nervous Conditions 149-end of book; Response to Nervous
Conditions due
March:
25: Midnight’s Children
March
27: Midnight’s Children
March 29: No classes (?)
April
1-5: Midnight’s Children
April
8-12: Midnight’s Children
April
15-19: White Teeth
April
22-26: White Teeth (response to Zadie Smith)
Hanif Kureishi essay, "The Rainbow Sign"
(@)
Screen My
Beautiful Laundrette
April
29-May 3: Train To Pakistan
May
6: Last Day of Classes.
àMay 10: Final paper on a
concept in Post-colonial literature/theory; complete response papers
re-submitted