Introduction to South Asian
Literature
English 191/Asia 191
Fall 2002
Amardeep Singh
Email:
amsp@lehigh.edu (most reliable way to reach me)
Office:
610-758-3319
Home:
610-527-2206
Deep's formal office hours: Wednesdays
2-4 pm. My
office is in 201 C Drown Hall.
I
am also available to meet on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays by appointment
(please email me to set up & confirm appointments).
Required Texts
Rushdie and West, Eds. Mirrorwork
Bapsi Sidhwa, Cracking India
Amitav Ghosh, The Glass Palace
Meera Syal, Life isn't all Ha ha
hee hee
Mohsin Hamid, Mothsmoke
Arundhati Roy, The God of Small
Things
Michael Ondaatje, Anil's Ghost
Salman Rushdie, The Satanic
Verses
Blackboard:
We
will make extensive use of the Blackboard
service for the dissemination of handouts. To access Blackboard, go to http://ci.lehigh.edu and enter your
userid and password.
Requirements:
1.
25%
Attendance and participation. This is a small, discussion-oriented class, so
your presence is essential to the chemistry of the class. Equally essential to
the functioning of the class is everyone doing all the reading, every week. I
will likely introduce simple in-class writing assignments as the term
progresses to ensure that everyone keeps up. Also note: I will be taking regular attendance! If you have more
than 3 unexcused absences, attendance will adversely affect the participation
portion of your grade.
2.
10%
One in-class presentation. Roughly every other week on Thursday we will have
student presentations. These will involve you doing some individual research on
a topic either suggested by me or chosen by you.
The goal of these presentations is to give you an
opportunity to deepen your knowledge of certain aspects of South Asian history,
culture, and literature in an area that interests you. Presentations will
generally have something to do with the readings assigned for that week, though
there also be variations on that pattern for a good reason (such as, for
instance, the relevance of a topic to current events). I would encourage people
to use visual aids such as handouts or images for their presentations; film or
audio clips can work too, if you let me know in advance.
3.
65%
(10%, 15%, 40%) Three papers. Two are relatively short; the final will be about
10 pages.
The two shorter papers will be focused arguments
interpreting the texts in the course. The final paper can also be primarily
interpretive, or it can be more research-oriented. For instance, I could
imagine a person interested in the controversy over Salman Rushdie's Satanic Verses doing some outside
research on blasphemy in the Islamic tradition.
Miscellaneous:
1.
Reading load. I have designed this
course to be as accessible as possible to non-majors while still making it
challenging to English majors taking the course. In either case, there is a
significant amount of reading here. I have tried to use shorter books where
possible so as not to overwhelm you, but be forewarned that some weeks will
have somewhat heavy reading assignments, so arrange your schedule accordingly.
My suggestion is to use weekends to work through novels in concentrated
sittings.
2.
Meetings. Though I do have formal office hours, I am increasingly moving
towards an appointment-based model. My preference is to meet with students on
Tuesdays, Wednesdays, or Thursdays when at all possible. I would strongly
encourage (almost require) you to
come in and talk with me at some point during the term, and generally encourage
you to come in as often as seems helpful to you.
3.
Film Screenings. I have put five films on
the syllabus -- which may be a bit optimistic. The films I have selected depict
the issues being discussed in the course, including the Partition, gender
relations, sexuality, caste, terrorism, and cross-cultural interactions (i.e.,
between east and west). Attendance at the screenings is optional, since I suspect we will not be able to find a time when
everyone can be present at screenings. But I will require you to see screened
films before the next class meeting, since we will be discussing the films in
class; the films may also factor into your papers. Video copies of the films
will be made available at the Fairchild-Martin media center.
I am currently envisioning
screenings on Thursday evenings at 6:30 or 7 pm, in the video room in Maginnes
Hall. One further thing: the film screenings will be open to the public. So feel free to bring friends & food along
with you.
What is the goal of this
class?
This class aims to introduce South
Asian literature in English. A number
of South Asian writers have emerged on the global literary scene since the end
of the colonial era, offering a substantial contribution to world literature.
Writing either from the South Asian subcontinent itself or from abroad, many of
the writers featured in this course have had a significant impact in places
like the United States and England, where they have won prizes and earned
recognition.
But how comfortable are they in the world of
'English' literature? To what extent does the English establishment accept and
incorporate South Asian writing? Or is it more correct to understand the
emergence of writing from this region of the world as lively, but essentially
marginal to 'canonical' European writers like James Joyce or Ernest Hemingway?
Put another way, South Asian literature might be seen as simply 'exotic' and
'different,' and not as important or lasting literature. This question, which I
call the question of canonicity, is one that each South Asian writer seems to
respond to in his or her own way, so we will discuss it throughout the term. My
general belief is that the literature we are reading is in fact highly
original, both in the sense that the stories being told have not been told
before in English-language narratives, and in the sense that many of the texts
we are reading are formally quite innovative. South Asian writers use European
techniques such as modernism and postmodernism, and modify or inflect them in
unique ways.
The question of canonicity leads to what might be
the central goal of the course, and that is, to develop an approach to this
literature that is at once an insider and a universalist perspective. In other
words, we will work on the historical and cultural background elements that are
important to fully understanding these novels. At the same time and in
parallel, we will think about how these novels have been influenced by western
aesthetic values and novelistic form, and how they might in fact be
transforming and reinventing this form.
More particular questions will come
up from book to book. The different short stories, novels, and films in the
course represent some very important 20th century historical events,
such as the moment of Independence for India and Pakistan, an event immediately
followed by the ghastly violence of the 'Partition.' Others deal with more
recent events: the Indo-Pakistan war of 1971, which led to the founding of
Bangladesh; Indira Gandhi's Emergency, in 1975; the assassination of Indira
Gandhi in 1984; the civil war in Sri Lanka in the 1970s and 80s; or the recent
border conflicts between India and Pakistan over Kashmir. Also, a significant
number of the books in the course are written by 'diasporic' authors -- people
who for various reasons live outside of the subcontinent. Some of these writers
focus quite specifically on what life is like for displaced South Asians in
London, the U.S., Canada, and elsewhere. Finally, it is important to note that
several of the authors in the course deal extensively with the question of women
in South Asia, with an aim to criticize the mistreatment of women in South
Asian society while nevertheless refusing to condemn that society (societies,
really) outright.
Introduction to
South Asian Literature
English
191/Asia 191
Fall
2002
Amardeep
Singh
Syllabus by week
8/27
Introduction (some poems to read)
8/29
From Mirrorwork
Rushdie's Introduction
Nehru, "Tryst with
Destiny" (short!)
Nayantara Sahgal,
"With Pride and Prejudice"
Saadat Hasan Manto,
"Toba Tek Singh"
Mulk Raj Anand, "The
Liar" (short!)
9/3
From Mirrorwork
Rohinton Mistry, "The Collectors"
Anjana
Appachana, "Sharmaji"
Vikram
Chandra, "Shakti"
Poems by Agha Shahid Ali (Blackboard)
9/5
Start Cracking India
An essay on Partition
from The Other Side of Silence (Blackboard)
Student
presentation(s): Partition
9/10
Cracking
India
9/12
Finish Cracking India
Film
screening: Earth (7pm)
9/17
The
Glass Palace (Parts I, II)
Amitav Ghosh, "Nashawy" (in Mirrorwork)
9/19
The
Glass Palace (Part III)
Student
presentation(s): on Burma, or open topic
9/24
The
Glass Palace (Parts IV, V)
9/26
The
Glass Palace (Parts VI, VII)
Film screening: Such a Long Journey
10/1
Finish The Glass Palace
àPaper due: 3-4 pages
10/3
NO CLASS -- Pacing Break
10/8
Start Mothsmoke
10/10
Finish Mothsmoke
Short story by Jhumpa Lahiri: "When Mr. Pirzada
Came to Dine" [Bangladesh] (Blackboard)
Short story by Upadhyay: "Arresting God in
Kathmandu" [Nepal] (Blackboard)
Student
presentation(s): Literary traditions of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal
10/15
Start The Satanic Verses
Rushdie essay: "In Good Faith," from Imaginary Homelands
Various readings on the 'Rushdie affair' over the
course of the 3 weeks
(SEE:
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/anglophone/satanic_verses/)
10/17
The
Satanic Verses
10/22
The
Satanic Verses
10/24
The
Satanic Verses
Student
presentation(s): On the Rushdie Affair
Film
Screening: Fire
10/29
The
Satanic Verses
10/31
Finish The Satanic Verses
àPaper due: 5 pages
11/5
Life
Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee
11/7
Finish Life Isn't All Ha Ha Hee Hee
Film
Screening: Dil Se…
11/12
The
God of Small Things
11/14
The
God of Small Things
Student presentation(s): Open topic on Arundhati
Roy
11/19
Finish The God of Small Things
An essay or two by Arundhati
Roy, from The Cost of Living
11/21
Start Anil's Ghost
Readings on Sri Lanka by
Neloufer de Mel and Stanley Tambiah
Student
presentation(s): Literary traditions (and ethnic conflict) in Sri Lanka
11/26
Anil's
Ghost
11/28
NO CLASS (Thanksgiving)
12/3
Finish Anil's Ghost
12/5
Last day of class: wrap up
Film
screening with Indian food: Monsoon
Wedding
12/13
Final papers due (10 pages)