LITERATURE, RACE, AND JUSTICE
This course is an exploration of the central presence of law
and legal themes in American literature, focusing on the issue of race. How
does literature use the law? Does it reinterpret, extend, or revise legal
codes? We pursue the relationship between law and literature by considering
how 19th and 20th-century American narratives create
and shape systems of justice, how they advance claims to authority, and how
readers form judgments based on these narrative codes. Does literature advance
the same claims to identity and authority as the laws contemporary to their
publication? Can literature challenge dominant notions of the social order—can
it destabilize racial boundaries? To what extent can literature alter commonly
held ideas of justice? Finally, can law and literature, studied together,
advance an understanding of cultural and legal boundaries--and within these,
an understanding of racial constructions--as fluid and ever-changing, rather
than as static and distinct categories? Works include Jacobs's Incidents
in the Life of a Slave Girl, Chesnutt's Marrow of Tradition, Wright's Native Son, and Roth's The Human Stain. Primary readings in a few key laws and court cases:
the Fugitive Slave Law; Dred Scott; Plessy v. Ferguson; Brown v. Board; Affirmative
Action; the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments.
Secondary readings in new historicism and cultural studies, gender studies,
and critical race theory: Eric J. Sundquist, Judith Butler, Kimberle Crenshaw,
Derrick Bell, and Patricia Williams.
Requirements:
Two critical papers, 6-8pp.
Panel Presentation, 15 minutes
Response paper: 2-3pp.
Attendance and
active participation.
Please use the editions that have been
ordered for the course in order to facilitate discussion.
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life
of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written By Himself
Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life
of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself
Harriet Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin
Herman Melville, Benito Cereno, in Great Short Works of Herman Melville
Mark Twain, Pudd'nhead Wilson
Charles Chesnutt, The Marrow of Tradition
Nella Larsen, Passing
Richard Wright, Native Son; "Big Boy Leaves Home" in Uncle Tom's Children
Malcolm X, The Autobiography of Malcolm
X
William Styron, The Confessions of Nat
Turner
Charles Johnson, Oxherding Tale
Philip Roth, The Human Stain
Books on Library Reserve:
All required texts, plus additional texts.
If you feel that a text should be placed on reserve for the course, please
do not hesitate to let the instructor know.
| Tu
Feb. 5: |
Introduction:
Why study law and literature?: Pursuing the relationship through the
discipline of English
|
| Th
Feb. 7: |
Mary
Frances Berry, “Slavery, the Constitution, and the Founding Fathers”;
Frederick Douglass,
"What to the Slave is the Fourth of
July?"; Patricia Williams, "The Death of the Profane (a commentary
on the genre of legal writing"
|
| Tu
Feb. 12: |
Writing
the self: Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an
American Slave, Written
By Himself |
| Th
Feb. 14: |
O Reader!
Writing the female self: Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a
Slave Girl |
| Tu
Feb. 19: |
Harriet
Jacobs, Incidents
Panel presentation: The Fugitive Slave Law (1851)
|
| Th
Feb. 21: |
Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin |
| Tu
Feb. 26: |
Harriet
Beecher Stowe, Uncle Tom's Cabin
Panel Presentation: Dred Scott v. Sanford
(1857)
|
| Th
Feb 28: |
Melville,
Benito Cereno |
| Tu
Mar. 5: |
Melville,
Benito Cereno
Panel presentation: the 13th,
14th, and 15th amendments (1865, 1866, 1869)
|
| Th
Mar. 7: |
Twain, Puddin'head
Wilson
Panel presentation: Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) |
| Tu
Mar. 12: |
Twain, Puddin’head
Wilson
First critical paper due in class |
| Th
Mar. 15: |
Chesnutt,
The Marrow of Tradition |
| Tu
Mar. 19: |
Chesnutt,
Marrow |
| Th
Mar. 21: |
Larsen,
Passing |
| |
Spring Break, March 23-31
|
| Tu
April 2: |
Richard
Wright, “Big Boy Leaves Home,” in Uncle Tom's Children;
Native Son, Book One: Fear; "How 'Bigger' was Born"
Literary Naturalism: William Dean Howells's influence on Wright |
| Th
April 4: |
Native
Son, Book Two: Flight |
| Tu
April 9: |
Native
Son, Book Three: Fate
Legal Realism: The case of Bigger in 1940s legal discourse |
| Th
April 11: |
Native
Son
Sympathetic Readers? Martha Nussbaum
on Wright's Native Son
Response paper due in class |
| Tu
April 16: |
Martin
Luther King, Jr., "Letter from Birmingham Jail"; Malcolm X,
"The Ballot or the Bullet"
Panel presentation: Brown v. Board
|
| Th
April 18: |
Autobiography
of Malcolm X, selections |
| Tu
April 23: |
Styron,
The Confessions of Nat Turner |
| Th
April 25: |
Styron,
Confessions |
| Tu
April 30: |
Johnson,
Oxherding Tale |
| Th
May 2: |
Johnson,
Oxherding Tale |
| Tu
May 7: |
The politics
of Affirmative Action: Roth, The Human Stain;
Gates, "Anatole Broyard," in Thirteen Ways of Looking at
a Black Man |
| Th
May 9: |
Roth, The
Human Stain; concluding remarks
Second paper due in class |
Course Requirements and Policy:
Critical papers
(2), 6-8pp.: your papers must perform a close reading of one of the course's
literary texts, focusing on any of the various thematic issues of literature,
race, and justice. An additional handout will outline possible topics. Note
that you must perform this assignment as indicated--that is, as a literary,
and not primarily historical, inquiry. Failure to focus on and develop
a literary analysis of a novel from the course list will result in a failing
grade for the assignment.
Attendance and Participation:
Attendance is required,
and I will take roll at the beginning of each class. If you come late to
class, or leave class early, you will be marked as absent--no exceptions will
be made. If you miss more than
two classes, you will receive a "no entry." No exceptions or special
allowances will be made.
Our class is a seminar, not a lecture; your
participation in class discussion is not only welcomed--it is required. I
expect thoughtful comments and active listening, interaction with peers as
well as the professor. You must keep up with the reading and writing assignments
in order to fulfill your obligation as a member of the class and as a participant
in the ongoing discussion.
Panel Presentation:
An important component
of your final grade is your panel presentation. You will interpret the laws/
legal aspects assigned and collaborate with (roughly) four classmates to design
a presentation that accomplishes the following:
1.
A briefing on what the law is;
2.
An interpretation of its historical significance in legal history and
in American history;
3.
An application of the significance of the law in the literature assigned
for that class, with slight attention to previous course readings;
4.
Discussion questions for the literature assigned, based on the panel's
findings.
Your contribution to this collaborative effort
will be a major factor in your final grade for the course.
Critical Response Paper
(2-3pp.): you will choose from one of four articles provided by the instructor
which use different critical lenses to discuss race in literature and law:
new historicism and cultural studies; gender studies; critical race theory.
Your response paper must a) establish the major concerns and values of the
critical approach; b) summarize the argument that the article makes about
a particular law and/or literary text; c) discuss how and why this critical
approach allows for a contribution to our understanding and interpretation
of law, literature, and race--what are the implications for each, put forth
in the article?; d) addresses possible limitations or scholarly reservations
that you have about the critical approach taken, possibly offering one or
two thoughtful questions.
The articles from which you will select are
as follows:
- Eric
J. Sundquist: "Mark Twain and Homer Plessy" (New Historicism)
- Judith
Butler: "Passing," in Bodies That Matter (Gender Studies)
- Derrick
A. Bell, Jr., "Racial Realism" (Critical Race Studies)
- Patricia
Williams, "The Pain of Word Bondage" and Kimberle Crenshaw, "Race, Reform, and Retrenchment:
Transformation and Legitimation in Anti-discrimination Law" (Critical
Race Studies)
Papers:
All papers must be submitted as typed,
double-spaced hard copies, and must be stapled.
No electronic submissions will be accepted under any circumstances. Set a one-inch margin on all sides. Choose a font
that results in 250-300 words per page, such as Courier 12, Times 12, Helvetica
12, New Century Schoolbook 12, or Palatino 12.
A short essay does
not require a title page. Instead, as a heading, place your name, the course
number and section number, the instructor's name, and the date in the upper
right-hand corner of the first page. Center the title you are giving to your
essay three or four lines below the last line of your heading. Do not put
quotation marks around your title unless the title is a phrase drawn from
another piece of work.
The pages of your
essay must be numbered and stapled.
Print your surname as an abbreviated header to the second and all subsequent
pages, along with the page number. (Thus the upper right-hand corner of the
second and third pages of your essay would print the following: "surname
2" and "surname 3.")
Be careful to save
your document frequently (every ten minutes or so) to prevent its sudden and
disheartening disappearance. At every stage of a draft print a hard copy and
save to disk.
Always keep a copy
of the paper for yourself. You must turn in all papers to receive a grade
for the class.
Citations must be completed in MLA
style in the following format, as footnotes:
--The author's name, first name first
--the title of the book, italicized
--the name of the editor or translator (if
any), first name first, preceded by "ed." or "trans."
--the volume number, in Arabic numerals,
if you are using a multi-columed work (“Vol. 2”)
--in parenthesis, the place of publication,
followed by a colon, the name of the publishing company, followed by a comma,
and the year of publication
--the page number(s) in Arabic numerals ("47"
or "47-51"). If you are citing verse quotations cite line number(s)
instead of page number(s) ("2" or "5-7")
Place a comma between each
item in the sequence, except that a comma does not precede the parenthesis
containing information about place and date of publication. A footnote or
an endnote always ends with a period.
In addition, please follow these guidelines
for quotations from poetry:
Unless unusual emphasis is required, verse quotations of a single line
or part of a line should be incorporated into , within quotation marks, as
part of your text. Quotation of two or three lines may also be placed in your
text, within quotation marks, but with the lines separated by a slash
( / ). Leave a single space on each side of the slash.
Verse quotations of four or more lines should be introduced (in most
cases) by a colon and indented from the left margin, but without quotation
marks unless quotation marks appear in the poem being quoted. Double space
between lines of verse. The spatial arrangement of the poem being quoted should
be reproduced as closely as possible.
In addition, please follow these guidelines
for quotations from prose:
Prose quotations of not more than four lines
in your printed text should be incorporated, within quotation marks, as part
of the text, unless special emphasis is required.
Longer quotations are usually introduced
by a colon, and indented from the left margin. No quotation marks are necessary
unless they are present in the material being quoted. Let the reader see how
the source you are quoting from is paragraphed, just as you let the reader
know how the lines of a poem are arranged on the page. If the first sentence
of the excerpt being quoted is the beginning of a paragraph in the source,
indent a few spaces. If not, do not indent.
It is
incumbent on you, as a scholar, both to document the borrowings that you make
from the work of others and to report and more general indebtedness to the
people and books that you have consulted in the course of preparing your papers.
Plagiarism consists of intentionally misrepresenting someone else's work,
words, or insights as your own. Like any other form of intellectual dishonesty,
plagiarism is a serious offense in an academic community. A paper that shows
evidence of plagiarism will receive no grade and will lead to no grade for
the entire term of English. Every case of plagiarism will be reported to the
Dean of Student Affairs for disciplinary action, which may range from further
reprimand to expulsion from Oberlin College. For further guidance, please
see the course instructor.
Late Work:
The course moves
at a rapid pace, so all work must be completed on time. Late work will lower
your final grade. Late papers will be penalized by 1/3 of a letter grade per
day, with a maximum of two calendar days (not weekdays) permitted. After two days, you may not submit your work for a
grade and you will receive a zero for the assignment.
Office Hours:
Every week I will
be available in my office for consultation. Office hours are your opportunity
to talk to me about the reading and writing process and the ideas you develop
on an individual basis. If you cannot make my regular office hours, you may
schedule an appointment for another time.
Grading:
Short Papers: 50%; Critical Response Paper:
15%; Panel Presentation: 10%; Attendance and Participation (includes additional
short assignments, if any): 25%