English 200X
Office 844 Gruening
Spring 2013
World Literature
Terry Reilly, Instructor
Phone 474-5180
email tjreilly@alaska.edu
Office Hours: TR 1:00-2:00 and by appointment
Text: The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Volume F. 3rd edition.
ISBN 978-0-393-91334-7
Week 1
17 January
Introduction and review course syllabus
22 January
Chinua Achebe, (Nigeria) “Girls at War,” ERes.
24 January
Ben Okri. (Nigeria) “In the Shadow of War,” ERes.
Week 2
29 January
Amos Tutuola, (Nigeria) “The Complete Gentleman,” ERes.
31 January
Ngugi wa Thiong’o, (Kenya) “A Meeting in the Dark,” ERes.
Week 3
5 February
Ama Ata Aidoo, (Ghana) “Two Sisters,” 993-1004.
7 February Doris Lessing, (Zimbabwe/England) “The Old Chief Mshlanga,” 716-727.
Week 4
12 February
Naguib Mahfouz, (Egypt) “Zaabalawi,” 882-892.
14 February
Nawal El Saadawi, (Egypt) “In Camera,” 1104-1115.
Week 5
19 February
Albert Camus, (Algeria/France) “The Guest,” 125-134.
21 February
Amos Oz, (Israel) “Nomad and Viper,” ERes.
Week 6
26 February
Tayeb Salih, (Sudan) “The Doum Tree of Wad Hamid,” 815-824.
28 February
Hanan Al-Shaykh, (Lebanon) “The Women’s Swimming Pool,” 11651172.
Week 7
5 March
Mahmoud Darwish, (Palestine) “Identity Card,” 892-895. Yehuda
Amichai, (Israel) Selected Poems, 933-939.
7 March
Premchand, (India) “The Road to Salvation,” 311-322.
March 11-15 is spring break
Week 8
19 March
Salman Rushdie, (India/England) “The Prophet’s Hair,” ERes.
21 March
Niaz Zaman, (Bangladesh) “The Daily Woman,” ERes.
Week 9
26 March Mahasweta Devi, (India) “Giribala,” 1147-1165.
28 March Gabriel Garcia Marquez, (Colombia) “Death Constant beyond Love,” 986-993.
Maria Theresa Solari, (Peru)“Death and Transfiguration of a Teacher,”ERes.
Week 10
2 April
Jorge Luis Borges, (Argentina) “The Garden of the Forking Paths,” 487-497.
4 April
Leopold Senghor, (Senegal) Selected Poems, 676-687. Aime Cesaire,
(Martinique) “Notebook to the Return of a Native Land,” 599-632.
Week 11
9 April
Isabel Allende, (Peru, Chile, US) “And of Clay Are We Created,” 1223-1232.
11 April Roberto Bolano, (Chile, Mexico) “Sensini,” 1249-1260.
Week 12
16 April Lu Xun, (China) “Diary of a Madman,” 244-253.
18 April Lao She, (China) “An Old and Established Name,” 409-417.
Week 13
23 April Tanizaki Jun’ichiro, (Japan) “In Praise of Shadows,” ERes.
25 April Akutagawa Ryunosuke, (Japan) “In a Bamboo Grove” 303-311.
Week 14
30 April
Oe Kenzaburo (Japan) “The Clever Rain Tree,” 1115-1129
2 May
Nguyen Huy Thiep (Vietnam) “The General Retires,” 1208-1223.
Final papers due.
The last day of class is 6 May. Exams are the week of May 7-10. There is no exam in this
class.
Grades and Policies, etc…
1). Read the works, come to class, and talk about the works.
2). At the beginning of each class, there will be a quiz. Each quiz is worth ten (11) points
(although extra credit will occasionally be possible). There will be a total of 27 quizzes. If
you arrive late or leave early, quizzes will not count. Quizzes cannot be made up.
3). THERE ARE NO PAPERS TO WRITE, unless you are not doing well and want to do
one or more (up to three) for extra credit, or if you want to finish the class early.
4). For even more extra credit, you can do one (1) 5-10 minute class presentation having
something to do with the country or region we are studying at the time (politics,
geography, food preparation, religion, etc.). You can do these individually or in groups.
5). ANY use of ANY electronic devices (cell phones, lap-tops, i-pods, i-pads, personal
massagers,etc.) during class is strictly prohibited. Caught once, you get a warning—caught
twice, you’re dropped from the class.
Here’s how it works out:
Total points
Quizzes and Class Participation
Papers
Class presentation
324
297 (27 @11 each, plus possible extra credit points)
up to 30 points each
up to 27 points
You need the following point totals for these grades:
A > 292
B > 259
C > 227
D > 195