21L.709
Studies in Literary History
Close examination of the literature of a particular historical period. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication. Syllabi vary. Previous topics include Britons Abroad in the 18th Century; Modernism: From Nietzsche to Fellini; and Make it New: Manifestos and the Invention of the Modern. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor if content differs. Limited to 12.
Spring 2017 · Ethnic Literature in America
Topics
- Introduction
- The Octoroon (Boucicault); An Octoroon (Jacob-Jenkins)
- Jazz
- Jazz (cont.)
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
- The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (cont.)
- Maus I
- Maus I (cont.)
- The House on Mango Street
- Unaccustomed Earth (“Hema and Kaushik”)
- The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf
- The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (cont.)
- Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand (Excerpt to p. 92)
- The Round House
- The Round House (cont.)
- Conference Reports
- Special Guest: Mia Heavener
- Conference Reports (cont.)
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist
- A Tale for the Time Being
- A Tale for the Time Being (cont.)
Readings
- [TM] = Morrison, Toni. Jazz . Reprint edition. Vintage, 2004. ISBN: 9781400076215.
- [MK] = Kahf, Mohja. The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf . PublicAffairs, 2006. ISBN: 9780786715190.
- [MH] = Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist . Harvest Books, 2008. ISBN: 9780156034029.
- SES #: 1 · TOPICS: Introduction · READINGS: No assigned readings
- Jacobs-Jenkins, Branden. An Octoroon . Dramatist’s Play Service, 2015. ISBN: 9780822232261.
- SES #: 3 · TOPICS: Jazz · READINGS: [TM] pp. 4–114.
- SES #: 4 · TOPICS: Jazz (cont.) · READINGS: [TM] pp. 117–229.
- SES #: 5 · TOPICS: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao · READINGS: [JD] As close to pg. 165 as possible.
- SES #: 6 · TOPICS: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (cont.) · READINGS: [JD] As close to finished as possible.
- Spiegelman, Art. “Maus I.” In Maus: A Survivor’s Tale . Box set edition. Pantheon, 1993. ISBN: 9780679748403.
- SES #: 8 · TOPICS: Maus I (cont.) · READINGS: No assigned readings
- Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street . Vintage, 1991. ISBN: 9780679734772.
- Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Part Two: Hema and Kaushik.” In Unaccustomed Earth . Reprint edition. Vintage, 2009. ISBN: 9780307278258.
- SES #: 11 · TOPICS: The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf · READINGS: [MK] pp. 1–155.
- SES #: 12 · TOPICS: The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (cont.) · READINGS: [MK] pp. 156–297.
- SES #: 13 · TOPICS: The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (cont.) · READINGS: [MK] pp. 298–441.
- SES #: 14 · TOPICS: The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf (cont.) · READINGS: No assigned readings
- SES #: 16 · TOPICS: The Round House · READINGS: [LE] pp. 1–108.
- SES #: 17 · TOPICS: The Round House (cont.) · READINGS: [LE] pp. 109–201.
- SES #: 18 · TOPICS: The Round House (cont.) · READINGS: [LE] pp. 202–317.
- SES #: 19 · TOPICS: Conference Reports · READINGS: No assigned readings
- Excerpt from Mia Heavener’s forthcoming book, Under Nushagak Bluff , from Red Hen Press (not available). OCW users may read the following story as a substitution:
- SES #: 21 · TOPICS: Conference Reports (cont.) · READINGS: No assigned readings
- SES #: 22 · TOPICS: The Reluctant Fundamentalist · READINGS: [MH] pp. 1–138.
- SES #: 24 · TOPICS: A Tale for the Time Being (cont.) · READINGS: [RO] pp. 109–258.
- SES #: 25 · TOPICS: A Tale for the Time Being (cont.) · READINGS: [RO] pp. 259–416.
- SES #: 26 · TOPICS: A Tale for the Time Being (cont.) · READINGS: No assigned readings
- Jacobs-Jenkins, Branden. An Octoroon . Dramatist’s Play Service, 2015. ISBN: 9780822232261.
- Morrison, Toni. Jazz . Reprint edition. Vintage, 2004. ISBN: 9781400076215.
- Spiegelman, Art. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale . Box set edition. Pantheon, 1993. ISBN: 9780679748403.
- Cisneros, Sandra. The House on Mango Street . Vintage, 1991. ISBN: 9780679734772.
- Lahiri, Jhumpa. Unaccustomed Earth . Reprint edition. Vintage, 2009. ISBN: 978030727825.
- Kahf, Mohja. The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf . PublicAffairs, 2006. ISBN: 9780786715190.
- Hamid, Mohsin. The Reluctant Fundamentalist . Harvest Books, 2008. ISBN: 9780156034029.
Fall 2010 · Studies in Literary History: Modernism: From Nietzsche to Fellini
How do literature, philosophy, film and other arts respond to the profound changes in world view and lifestyle that mark the twentieth century? This course considers a broad range of works from different countries, different media, and different genres, in exploring the transition to a decentered "Einsteinian" universe.
Readings
- Nietzsche, Friedrich. The Will to Power . Edited by Walter Kaufmann. New York, NY: Vintage, 1968. ISBN: 9780394704371.
- Chopin, Kate. The Awakening and Selected Stories . New York, NY: Penguin Group Inc., 2003. ISBN: 9780142437322.
- Kafka, Franz. The Trial . Translated by Mitchell Breon. New York, NY: Schocken, 1999. ISBN: 9780805209990.
- ———. The Blue Octavo Notebooks . Edited by Max Brod. Cambridge, MA: Exact Change, 2004. ISBN: 9781878972040.
- Joyce, James. Ulysses . New York, NY: Vintage Books, 1990. ISBN: 9780679722762.
- Proust, Marcel. Swann’s Way . Edited by D. J. Enright. New York, NY: Modern Library, 1998. ISBN: 9780375751547.
- Woolf, Virginia. The Common Reader . First Series, Annotated Edition. New York, NY: Mariner Books, 2002. ISBN: 9780156027786.
- ———. To the Lighthouse . New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN: 9780199536610.
- Benjamin, Walter. Berlin Childhood Around 1900 . Translated by Howard Eiland. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9780674022225.
- Heidegger, Martin. Poetry, Language, Thought . New York, NY: HarperCollins Publishers, 2001. ISBN: 9780060937287.
Prerequisites & course information
Prereq: Two subjects in Literature or History U (Spring) 3-0-9 units. HASS-H Can be repeated for credit.
Sources
- Course catalogue ↗2026–2027
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Spring 2017
- MIT OCW calendar ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OpenCourseWare ↗Fall 2010
- MIT OCW syllabus ↗
- MIT OCW readings ↗
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.
- Historical MIT OpenCourseWare offering. Named reading entries and schedule topics are automatically extracted from the linked source pages.