Description: This course will study the genre of magical realism, fiction in which "irreducible elements" of magic are included in otherwise realistic narratives. Until quite recently magical realism has been largely associated with Latin American literature, but now it is increasingly becoming recognized as an important trend (THE most important trend??) in contemporary international fiction. Because magical realism has been unusually powerful as a deconlonizing agent, and also because the term has elicited some controversy, discussion of these novels will provide an opportunity to investigate concepts in postcolonial studies as it intersects with theories of narrative. Our discussion will concentrate on careful analyses of these magical realist texts and their critical and cultural contexts, but since this movement is playing a central role in contemporary international fiction (and film), our investigation of it will also broaden to include more general discussions of contemporary literature and (sometimes even) popular culture.
Course Objectives: 1) To study the movement in contemporary literature known as magical realism by becoming familiar with some of its key texts, their cultural contexts, and the theoretical issues and historical development of the mode. 2) To provide a context in which students will continue to improve critical skills in discussing and writing about literature.
Texts: Short stories by Gogol, James, Kafka, gorges, Paz, Cortazar, and Calvino, and the novella Aura by Fuentes from the anthology _Magical Realist Fiction_; Garcia Marquez, _One Hundred Years of Solitude_; Kundera, _The Book of Laughter and Forgetting_; Pinget, _That Voice_; Thomas, _The White Hotel_; Fuentes, _Distant Relations_; Rushdie, _Midnight's Children_; Thornton, _Imagining Argentina_; Assorted critical articles on magical realism, including some from the critical anthology, _Magical Realism: Theory, History, Community_ (optional purchase)
Course Requirements and Grading: Students are expected to come to all classes, do the assigned readings, and participate in class discussions. The written requirement for the course is a final seminar paper of approximately 20 pages related to the subject matter of the course and including library research. However, students who wish to have some feedback on their written work before the end of the course have the option of dividing the 20 pages into two shorter papers, totalling approximately 20 pages, and handing in the first one whenever they wish, but at least three weeks before the last class. Grades will be determined primarily by the final seminar paper or papers. However, each student will be responsible for leading the class discussion (for about 30 minutes) on a critical reading, which will count for 10% of the grade. Regular contributions to class discussions will also count for 10% of the grade.
Attendance Policy: Regular attendance is expected, though not graded. I am not assuming this will happen, but more than three unexcused absences will result in a 10% lowering of the course grade. I will not drop you from this course (the university does not allow it).
Syllabus:
January 20: Introductions
January 27: Defining Magical Realism:
Wendy B. Faris, "Scheherazade's Children: Magical Realism and Postmodern Fiction," in Zamora and Faris, Magical Realism; Nikolai Gogol, "The Nose"; Henry James, "The Jolly Corner"; Franz Kafka, "The Bucket Rider"; Jorge Luis gorges, "The Aleph" and "The South"; Gabriel Garcia Marquez, "The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings, in Young and Hollaman, Magical Realist Fiction; no discussion leader this first time, but please bring for discussion a question or a comment that you have drawn from the readings.
February 3: Cultural History of Magical Realism:
Franz Roh, "Magic Realism: Post-Expressionism"; skim and look at paintings in Irene Guenther, "Magic Realism in the Weimar Republic"; Theo D'haen, "Magical Realism and Postmodernism," in Zamora and Faris (DISCUSSION of D'haen); Carlos Fuentes, Aura; Julio Cortazar, "Axolotl and "The Night Face Up," in Young and Hollaman.
February 10: Nobel Prize Magical Realism:
Garcia Marquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude. Warning: this is a long book, so please plan time to enjoy reading it. Garcia Marquez, "The Solitude of Latin America" (in coursepack); Ramon Saldivar, selection from The Dialectics of Our America: Geneology, Cultural Critique, and Literary History, in coursepack (DISCUSSION).
February 17: More Cultural History of Magical Realism:
We may want to finish discussing One Hundred Years of Solitude, so bring that book. gorges, "The Garden of Forking Paths" and "The Circular Ruins," in coursepack; Alejo Carpentier, "On The Marvelous Real in America" and "The Baroque and the Marvelous Real" in Zamora and Faris; Carpentier, "Journey to the Seed" and John Cheever, "The Enormous Radio," in Young and Hollaman; Melissa Stewart, "Roads of 'Exquisite Mysterious Muck': The Magical Journey through the City in William Kennedy's Ironweed, John Cheever's 'The Enormous Radio,' and Donald Barthelme's 'City Life"' in Zamora and Faris (DISCUSSION).
February 24: Magical Realism or Political Allegory??:
Milan Kundera, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting; Rawdon Wilson,"The Metamorphoses of Fictional Space:
Magical Realism," in Zamora and Faris (DISCUSSION).
March 3: Transatlantic Magical Realism:
with Ghosts: Fuentes, Distant Relations; Lois Zamora, "Magical Romance/Magical Realism: Ghosts in U.S. and Latin American Fiction," in Zamora and Faris (DISCUSSION; this essay is long, long, so concentrate on its first part)
March 10: Freudian Magical Realism:
Historical and Sexual Fantasies: D. M. Thomas, The White Hotel; John
Foster, "Magical Realism, Compensatory Vision, and Felt
History: Classical Realism Transformed in The White
Hotel," in Zamora and Faris) (DISCUSSION).
March 17: VACATION. Since the next book is really long, I suggest you start on it (I know, I know, that's not fair!).
March 24: Diasporic Magical Realism:
Salman Rushdie,
Midnight's Children; Rushdie, "Crash"; No essay for
discussion, but everyone will bring a short
contribution of their choice on Rushdie's magical
realism.
March 31: European Popular Magical Realism:
Patrick Suskind, Perfume; Richard T. Gray, "The Dialectic of 'Enscentment' Patrick Suskind's Das Parfum as Critical History of Enlightenment Culture," in coursepack (DISCUSSION).
April 7: Magical Realism goes to the Movies:
Like Water for Chocolate (view this film on your own and be ready to discuss it as magical realism with particular attention to issues of gender, which it addresses). In addition, this class will be devoted to general discussion, so bring any issues and questions you would like to raise; we may also want to finish discussing Midnight's Children, so please bring it; John Updike, "Cruise" (coursepack); Stephen Slemon, "Magic Realism as Postcolonial Discourse," in Zamora and Faris) (DISCUSSION).
April 14: North American Popular Magical Realism/Stealing Sacred Victim Status??:
Lawrence Thornton, Imagining Argentina; Jeanne Delbaere-Garant, "Psychic Realism, Mythic Realism, Grotesque Realism: Variations on Magic Realism in Contemporary Literature in English," in Zamora and Faris (DISCUSSION).
April 21: Magically Reencountering The Past/Female Geneologies:
Toni Morrison, Beloved; P. Gabrielle Foreman, "Past-On Stories: History and the Magically
Real, Morrison and Allende on Call," in Zamora and Faris (DISCUSSION).
April 28: Student Reports on Papers
May 5: Student Reports on Papers
Literature Seminars
Literature HP & Program
The ENGLISH HOME PAGE
Wendy Faris's HP.