English 263-001
Introduction to the Novel: Imagining Region, Imagining Nation
Instr: Kuhlman, Ben
Office: CRT 472; 229-3935
e-mail: bkuhlman@uwm.edu
Office hours:
Course Information: MWF; 9:00-9:50am; AUP 189
Course Description
Tentative Reading List:
Sarah Orne Jewett, The Country of the Pointed Firs
Willa Cather, My Antonia
Sherwood Anderson, Winesburg, Ohio
Charles W. Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition
William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying
Chinua Achebe, Arrow of God
Leslie Marmon Silko, Gardens in the Dunes
The above list suggests a few goals of the course: first, to read some traditional "regional" texts and talk about what makes them "regional"; second, read some texts that are not usually considered "regional" and talk about what makes them different (if anything).
The keyword from the course subtitle, "Imagine," is a reference to Benedict Anderson and the way that he describes "communities," or what Raymond Williams calls "bonds," among groups of people. If you think of nations, regions, states, cities, ethnic groups as a kind of "club," it helps to think about how you might gain admission to such a group, who is not allowed in the group, and how the group thinks about itself. Our ultimate goal is to interrogate the process of "regionalization" and the important difference that process has with "nationalization" or, perhaps more aptly, "canonization." And, in our current climate, it is also important to talk about this thing called "globalization," and how the processes often lumped under this umbrella term have been going on all along. Along the way we will talk about this thing called a "novel," how we know it when we see it, how it came about, and what kinds of things it might be able to do (or what kinds of things people try to do with it). We will do a lot of talking, a little bit of writing, perhaps watch a film or two, and put together a final project. I also plan to make use of Desire2Learn and a course reflector.
