Magical Realism & the World Syllabus

WAGS 23: Disruptive Geographies: Magical Realism and the World

MW 12.30 -1.50

 

Alicia E. Ellis

E-mail: aellis@amherst.edu

Tel: 542.2968                                                 

Office: 310 Fayerweather

Office Hours: Tu 2 – 4 & by appointment

 

• Required Texts:

The Course Packet is available in 14 Grosvenor House, 55 College Street. The WAGS Academic Coordinator is Amy Ford.

 

Books are available at Amherst Books on Main St.

-          Brodber, Erna – Louisiana

-          Carpentier, Alejo - The Kingdom of this World

-          Chamoiseau, Patrick - Solibo Magnificent

-          García Márquez, Gabriel - One Hundred Years of Solitude

-          Kincaid, Jamaica - At the Bottom of the River

-          Rulfo, Juan - Pedro Páramo

-          Süskind, Patrick - Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

-          Winterson, Jeanette - Sexing the Cherry

 

-          Additional readings will be supplied as needed.

 

• Grading:

-          Grading is based on several factors a.) four essays (40%) b.) seven response papers (30%) c.) class participation, attendance & preparation (30%)

 

• Requirements

- Readings - Assigned readings are to be prepared for the date listed on the syllabus. Students are expected to share their responses to the literature and present one or two questions or comments about the assigned reading.

 

- Essays - There are four (4) essays for this course; typed in Times New Roman, double spaced, 11 point and e-mailed to me as an attachment (RTF) by the due date and time. Only extraordinary circumstances will allow for late work.

 

- Response Papers – There are seven (7) response papers (see syllabus). These responses may either reflect a critical engagement with the text, offer a close reading of a passage or a longer selection, or provide a comparative reading of two or more texts.

 

- Attendance - Students may miss one (1) class without penalty. Thereafter, any unexcused absence will have an effect on the final semester grade. Only extraordinary circumstances will allow for absences. Class begins at 12:30 and concludes at 1:50. Repeated tardiness and/or repeated early departures will also have an effect on the final semester grade.

 

 

 

 

 

Week 1:

 

9/5 Introduction; Milan Kundera “A Fur Cap”; Gabriel García Márquez “A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings” (handout)

 

Week 2:

9/10 Jorge Luis Borges “Borges and I,” “Dreamtigers,” “Everything and Nothing,” “His End and His Beginning” and “A Dialog about a Dialog” (handout)

 

9/12 Franz Kafka “The Bridge” & “Crossbreed” (handout); Heinrich von Kleist “The Beggarwoman of Locarno” (handout)

 

Week 3:

9/17 Franz Roh “Magical Realism: Post-Expressionism” (course packet); Franz Kafka “The Judgment” & “A Country Doctor” (course packet); Heinrich von Kleist “Michael Kohlhaas” (course packet)

 

9/19 Continue “Michael Kohlhaas”; Charles Johnson “The Education of Mingo” (course packet); Response # 1 (1-2 pages)

 

9/20 (Thursday) Film - Jim Jarmusch - Dead Man (Fayerweather 117 4:00pm and 7:30pm)

 

Week 4:

9/24 Alejo Carpentier The Kingdom of this World p. 7 – 104; Alejo Carpentier “On the Marvelous Real in America” (course packet)

 

9/26 Continue The Kingdom of this World p. 105 – 186; Response # 2 (1-2 pages)

 

Week 5:

10/1 Wendy B. Faris “The Question of the Other: Cultural Critiques of Magical Realism” (course packet); Juan Rulfo Pedro Páramo p. 3 – 61

 

10/3 Continue Pedro Páramo p. 61 - 124

 

First Paper Due Friday, October 5 (3pm)

 

Mid-Semester Break

 

Week 6:

 

10/10 Gabriel García Márquez  “The Otherside of Death,” “The Third Resignation,” “Eva is inside her Cat” and “The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World” (course packet)

 

Week 7:

10/15 Jorge Luis Borges “The Circular Ruins,” “The Library of Babel,” “Death and the Compass” and “The South” (course packet)

 

10/17 Julio Cortázar “The Continuity of Parks,” “The Night Face Up” and “Blow-Up” (course packet); Response # 3 (2-3 pages)

 

Week 8:

10/22 Patrick Süskind Perfume: The Story of a Murderer p. 3 - 111

 

10/24 Continue Perfume: The Story of a Murderer p. 115 – 255

 

10/25 (Thursday) Film - Tom Tykwer ­ Perfume (Fayerweather 117 4:00pm and 7:30pm)

 

Second Paper Due Monday, October 29 (8pm)

 

Week 9:

10/29 Erna Brodber Louisiana p. 3 - 74

 

10/31 Continue Louisiana p. 75- 166; Erna Brodber “Beyond the Boundary – Magical Realism in the Jamaican Frame of Reference” (course packet); Response # 4 (2 pages)

 

Week 10:

11/5 Patrick Chamoiseau Solibo Magnificent p. 3 - 74

 

11/7 Continue Solibo Magnificent p. 75 – 166; Response # 5 (2 pages)

 

Week 11:

11/12 Jamaica Kincaid At the Bottom of the River

 

11/14 Jon Thiem “The Textualization of the Reader in Magical Realist Fiction” (course packet)

 

11/14 (Wednesday) Sally Potter ­- Orlando (Fayerweather 117 4:00pm and 7:30pm)

 

 

Third Paper Due Friday, November 16 (3pm)

 

Thanksgiving Break

 

Week 12:

11/26 Gabriel García Márquez One Hundred Years of Solitude p. 1 – 185 (Begin over the Thanksgiving Break)

 

11/28 One Hundred Years of Solitude p. 186 – 319; Response # 6 (2 pages)

 

Week 13:

12/3 One Hundred Years of Solitude p. 320 - 422

 

12/5 Jeanette Winterson Sexing the Cherry p. 1 – 87; Response # 7 (2 pages)

 

Week 14:

12/12 Continue Sexing the Cherry p. 87 - 167

 

 

Final Paper Due Tuesday, December 17 (4pm)