|
Spring 2000 | |
|
English 439 |
Rice 101 |
|
Peters 129 |
Office hours: MW 9-11 |
|
|
E-mail: Gillian.Johns@oberlin.edu |
Description of Course
Why, you might ask, an entire course focused on one African-American writer, let alone Richard Wright, whose imagination some good readers have found to be misogynistic, idiosyncratic, racially alienated, and even pathological? And the answer is twofold: sustained inquiry into Wright's literary career and intellectual life allows us to broaden our understanding of (1) how one of the first African-American authors to make a living consistently via the craft of writing produced and revised his work and (2) how we and others might engage in research on such a figure and/or in the field of African-American literature more generally. Wright, then, serves as a kind of case study for examination of African-American authorship and intellectual life from the 1930s through the 1950s. In the words of one scholar,
Following the spirit of such testimony, throughout this course we will explore Wright as a pivotal black author in both formal and ideological terms. We will examine many (though not all) of his works and attend to both continuities and shifts revealed in his writings in various genres. In addition, students will engage in their own research on some aspect of Wright's work or career or on another related twentieth-century African-American author. By the end of the course, students should develop a sense of the art and dialogue involved in critical inquiry and literary research.
Required Texts
Expectations/Requirements
Class Framework-- As an advanced, 400-level "special topics" course, this class will not be driven by lecture but, rather, by discussion. In the beginning of the semester, students will be asked to write a few short response papers, but as the semester goes on students are expected to take responsibility for their own ongoing investment and participation in the course. This means that your level of preparation and engagement will factor significantly into your overall course grade. A primary goal of this course, however, is to offer you experience in conducting research, so the assignments and groupings of readings are designed to aid you in management of a variety of (primary and secondary) literary materials while you extend your knowledge. Thus, in addition to factoring into your course grade, attendance and participation--as well as completion of all assignments on schedule--will be essential to the progress and success of your own final project.
Writing/Research Component-- You will turn in several papers in this course: two short (two to three-page) papers, which will emerge out of informal "response" papers you prepare for class discussion; and one longer (12 to 15-page) paper which you will research and conceptualize throughout the semester. In addition, two abstracts and an annotated bibliography (to be discussed in class) will count toward your final course grade. You are encouraged to follow and develop your own interests in your research and long paper, though you must work in a topic that grows from considerations and perspectives explored in this course through our study of Wright. For example, you might work on a final project exploring the influence of Wright's work on Ann Petry's fiction or, say, his influence on the ways critics approach her fiction.
All papers are to be typed, double spaced, with one-inch margins; and they must include a bibliography in MLA format (to be discussed in class).
NOTE: The grade for any late papers will drop one-third of a letter grade (e.g., from B to B-) every two days (from Mon. to Wed., Wed. to Fri., etc.) unless special arrangement has been made with the instructor in advance of the due date. Justifiable reasons for requesting an extension are illness and family emergency but not waiting too long to begin work on the paper. Likewise, incompletes must be negotiated before the last week of classes and will be offered only in the case of a justifiable and/or unforeseen problem completing the work on schedule. No final papers will be accepted beyond Reading Period other than those of students who have taken incompletes in the course.
Reading and Assignment Schedule
|
Feb. 9 |
Course Introduction: Prospects for Research |
Interpreting the Emergence of an Author
|
Feb. 16
|
Wright, Black Boy (American Hunger),
chapters 1 through 8; Fabre, The Unfinished Quest of
Richard Wright, preface, introduction, and chapters 1-3
(to p. 72) |
|
Feb. 23
|
Mudd Library, Room 202: research instruction 7:00 to
7:45. |
New York Years -- Intersections between Ideology and Literary Form
|
March 1
|
Wright, Lawd Today!; Fabre, The Unfinished
Quest, chapters 4-6; Brady, "Wright's Lawd
Today!: The American Dream Festering in the Sun" |
|
March 8
|
Wright, Uncle Tom's Children; Wright, "Blueprint
for Negro Writing"; Fabre, The Unfinished Quest,
chapters 7 and 8; Select contemporary reviews of Uncle
Tom's Children |
|
March 15 |
Wright, Native Son, pp. 1 to ~215; Canfield
Fisher, "Introduction to the First Edition"; Bradley, "On
Rereading Native Son"; Fabre, The Unfinished
Quest, chapter 9 |
|
March 22 |
Native Son, pp. 215 to end; Wright, "How Bigger
Was Born"; Elmer, "Spectacle and Event in Native
Son" |
|
March 29 |
SPRING BREAK |
Paris Years -- Historical Consciousness, Modernity, Existentialism
|
April 5
|
Select readings of Wright's non-fiction (to be discussed in class); Gilroy, "'Without the Consolation of Tears': Richard Wright, France, and the Ambivalence of Community"; Richard Wright, "The American Problem&emdash;Its Negro Phase"; Fabre, The Unfinished Quest, chapters 11-12 and 14 |
|
April 12 |
Wright, The Outsider, Books 1 to 3; reviews by
Bontemps and Hansberry; Turner, "The Outsider:
Revision of an Idea"; Fabre, The Unfinished Quest,
pp. 365-381 |
|
April 19 |
The Outsider, Books 4 to end; Adell, "Richard
Wright's The Outsider and |
|
April 26 |
Wright, Savage Holiday; Reilly, "Richard Wright's
Curious Thriller, Savage Holiday"; Walker, "Savage
Holiday: A Freudian Nightmare"; selections from December
1968 Negro Digest (to be discussed in class) |
|
May 3 |
Wright, Rite of Passage; selections from Wright,
Eight Men; Baker, "Reassessing "Wright: A Meditation
on the Black (W)hole"; Fabre, The Unfinished Quest,
chapters 17-19 |
|
May 10 |
Wright, selections from Haiku: this Other World;
Hakutani, "Nature, Haiku, and 'This Other World'"; Fabre,
The Unfinished Quest, chapter 21 |
|
May 13-16
|
READING PERIOD |