Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi: The Thing Around Your Neck; Adiga, Aravind: White Tiger; Danticat, Edwidge: The Dew Breakers; Fun, Lu: Call to Arms; Kawabata, Yasunari: The Old Capital; Lispector, Clarice: The Complete Stories
Irving, Washington: "Rip Van Winkle"
This course investigates how books (and book selection) allow us to form individual conceptions of what is “global.” We will read texts that represent an array of perspectives on identity, national allegiance, and global travel, maintaining an eye toward how literary form allows—and perhaps sometimes even forecloses—readerly “empathy.” To guide our course, we will explore the ideas of thinkers who believe in Anthony Kwame Appiah’s conception of cosmopolitanism—the idea that we can live as “citizens of the world” and engage one another with a mindset of “universality plus difference.” Much of our thinking and writing will consider the possibilities and limitations of this school of thought.
Alongside our reading and discussions, we will be developing your expository and argumentative writing skills. Assignments will include weekly written responses, two short essays (2, 5 pages), and a longer, 9-paged argumentative research essay. There will also be a peer review and in-class workshops.
Shelley, Mary: Frankenstein; Sheridan Le Fanu, Joseph : Carmilla; Stoker, Bram: Dracula
Supplemental films and readings TBA
The 19th century saw the publication of several landmark monster novels, birthing a genre that would achieve a similarly widespread popularity in the films of the 1980s and 1990s. This course will examine three monsters of Victorian literature—Frankenstein, Dracula ,and Carmilla—and compare the original texts to contemporary film versions, asking the questions: what makes a monster monstrous? Where does the feeling of horror really come from? And why might this genre have reemerged when it did in American culture? In attempting to answer these questions, students will also work to develop analytic and rhetorical skills and learn to write powerfully and persuasively.
This course will evaluate the role that 'Humanism' has played across a transhistorical spectrum and a diverse generic range (we will read prose, drama, poetry across roughly five centuries). While the first half of the course will solidify a working definition of 'Humanist' and 'Humanism,' the second half will work to produce an equally sophisticated vision of what 'Antihumanism' might be, and how it orients contemporary practices. Beginning with the Early Modern notion of Humanism as rooted in a divinely bestowed capacity for dramatic self-creation, we will read the foundational works of the Renaissance 'Humanist' ideal. Pico della Mirandola's 'Oration on the Dignity of Man,' for example, and Desiderius Erasmus' In Praise of Folly will help to solidify a definition of what Humanism may have meant at its origin—was it a philosophy or an academic pursuit of what we now call 'The Humanities' (the studia humanitatis)? When we move on to studying 'Antihumanism,' the ideal will be to develop a capacious concept of the necessity of the anti-human in the contemporary world. At stake throughout will be a problematization of any easy binary opposition between 'the human' and the 'anti-human.' Is humanism in some way about 'the individual'? Does 'antihumanism' rule out 'the individual' as a nexus of subjectivity? The course will be aimed at the development of analytic thinking and close reading skills in tandem. Our goal will be to sharpen our writing skills by further developing the interface between thought and writing. This course will involve the writing of a number of essays throughout the term.
Carroll, Lewis: Alice in Wonderland; Delanty, Greg and Michael Matto, eds.: The Word Exchange: Anglo-Saxon Poems in Translation; Donoghue, Emma: Kissing the Witch: Old Tales in New Skins; Gaiman, Neil: The Sleeper and the Spindle; Snyder, Scott: Batman: Zero Year, Secret City and Dark City
Selections from other texts will be provided online and in class.
"Have you guessed the riddle yet?" the Hatter said, turning to Alice again.
"No, I give it up," Alice replied. "What's the answer?"
"I haven't the slightest idea," said the Hatter.
"Nor I," said the March Hare.
Alice sighed wearily. "I think you might do something better with the time," she said, "than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers."
Well, then, why IS a raven like a writing desk? In Alice, no one seems to know, but the pen and the bookchest in the Old English riddles might have an opinion! In the texts for this course, bells and onions speak, happy endings fail to end, and nothing is quite as it seems—but that, of course, is the fun of it all.
Our goal in this course is to "get messy." Like solving a riddle, academic writing is a process of discovery: we walk new roads, we test our ideas, and when we lose the way we back up and try again. And whatever Alice may think, it is the riddles without answers—the wrong turns, revisions, and unexpected detours—that demand our greatest insights and innovations. The course readings combine Old English medieval riddles with graphic novels, fairy tales, and Alice's classic adventures to consider how these texts form a response to the genres, styles, and stories that came before them. Each has, at one point or another, been dismissed by literary critics, and yet each has unique strengths and experimental possibilities that deserve our attention.
We will begin the term with an extended exploration of what it means to enter a critical academic conversation. Who else has written about the works we are reading? What do they have to say, and how does that change our own interpretation of the text? In addition to working with library databases and resources, you will also be learning to think of yourselves and your classmates as producers of academic writing. Throughout the course, you will receive feedback not only from me, but from one another, as you learn to integrate published books, articles, reviews, and other forms of academic writing into your own research papers.
While some riddles may remain unsolved, you will gain experience in "getting lost" as you develop your skills as an academic writer and literary critic—and these, of course, will help you find your way.
Ghosh, Amitav: The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable; Liu , Cixin: The Wandering Earth; Muslim, Kristine Ong: The Age of Blight: Stories; Robinson, Kim Stanley: New York 2140; Wagner, Phoebe and Bronte Christopher Wieland, eds.: Sunvault: Stories of Solarpunk and Eco-Speculation
This course explores literary, scientific, and postcolonial perspectives on ecological crisis on a global scale from early-19th-century ecological writing to contemporary climate fiction. Tracing the emergence of a planetary ecological consciousness, we will investigate how literature and science grapple with the global implications of climate change. What formal and figurative resources can climate fiction and contemporary earth sciences afford on ecological catastrophe? To what extent does climate change render the figure of the globe visible and compel thinking on a planetary scale? How is climate change experienced differently around the globe, and its effects unevenly distributed across across periphery and metropole? We'll consider whether literature is capable of critically intervening in the problems and questions surrounding climate change in a form distinct from scientific and technological means, and how the literature of climate change might afford its own mode of purchase on questions of scale, ecology, deep time, and empire that augments or extends scientific forms of inquiry. Along the way, we'll pay particular attention to the postcolonial, transnational literature of climate change, and trace the conjoined histories of climate and empire. Readings include Amitav Ghosh, Kristine Ong Muslim, Cixin Liu, and Kim Stanley Robinson, along with critical readings spanning Anthropocene studies and contemporary climate science. Over the course of the term, you'll compose several papers of increasing length culminating in a final research paper designed to develop your ability to conduct your own innovative writing and research.
"But there were unspoken conditions to our acceptance, and that was the secret we were meant to glean on our own: we had to be grateful," writes Dina Nayeri of her family's experience seeking asylum in the United States in "The Ungrateful Refugee" (The Guardian, 2017). Neither success nor failure are available narratives for the refugee—"You're not enough until you're too much. You're lazy until you're a greedy interloper"—only postures of gratitude. Against this representational straight-jacketing, Nayeri asks: "Is the life of the happy mediocrity a privilege reserved for those who never stray from home?" This course takes its cue from Nayeri's incisive critique to explore how the wide range of refugee experience is represented in contemporary fiction. You can expect to encounter writing by Mohsin Hamid, Samuel Selvon, Shaun Tan, Dave Eggers, Philippe Claudel, NoViolet Bulawayo, Lisa Ko, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Warson Shire, Yousif M. Qasmiyeh, and W.H. Auden. In addition to works of fiction by these writers, we will engage historical, philosophical, and political writings by Hannah Arendt on the nation state, Giorgio Agamben on the refugee camp, Edward Said on exile, and Jacques Derrida on hospitality. Through these works, and moving across genres, geographies, and mediums, we will interrogate the terms of citizenship and belonging, suffering and spectacle, cultural difference and universalism; the distinction between the internally displaced, the migrant, and the exile; and the meanings of habitation, refuge, home, dwelling, place, and shelter. And we will ask: What narrative forms or mediums do displaced writers deploy to render their experience or appeal to hearts and minds? And if 'the refugee' tells the lie to the nation state's capacity to account for the world's people, what other forms of political and social organization does the refugee live, inspire, create, or warn against?
Over the course of the semester, formal written assignments and informal classroom exercises will work to target and improve skills of textual analysis, critical thought, argumentative writing, and research proficiency. We will develop strategies for analyzing and synthesizing complex arguments across disciplines, styles, and academic contexts, while constructing and supporting original argumentative claims through the use of research and properly cited textual evidence.
Acosta, Oscar Zeta: The Revolt of the Cockroach People (1973); Anzaldúa, Gloria: Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza (1987); Castillo, Ana: So Far From God (1993); Cisneros, Sandra: The House on Mango Street (1991); Paredes, Americo: "With His Pistol in His Hand": A Border Ballad and Its Hero (1958); Rivera, Tomás: ...y no se lo tragó la tierra/...And the Earth Did Not Devour Him (1971); Villarreal, Jose Antonio: Pocho (1959)
This course is an introductory survey of the aesthetic forms and social locations of Chicanx art and literature in the United States, from the U.S.-Mexico War of 1846-1848 to our present moment of anti-immigrant nativism, which is signified rhetorically by the xenophobic rallying cry of "build the wall" on the one hand, and politically through the neo-fascist terror of U.S.-sponsored child concentration camps along the U.S.-Mexico border on the other. Between these two moments of racialized historical violence, we will read Chicanx cultural productions (novels, poetry, short stories, film, nonfiction narrative, visual art, and scholarship) vis-à-vis the Great Depression, the Chicana/o Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the anti-colonial feminism of Xicanisma and the "New Mestiza consciousness" of the 1980s, and the emergence of "critical Border theory" in response to neoliberal globalization under late capitalism in the American hemisphere. While these moments help anchor our exploration of Chicanx culture in particular political and historical contexts, we will also pay careful attention to questions of aesthetics and form in this course.
Chaucer, Geoffrey: The Canterbury Tales: The Canterbury Tales (London; Penguin Edition, 2005); ISBN-13: 978-0140422344;
Recommended: Bowers, John M.: The Canterbury Tales: Fifteenth-Century Continuations and Additions (TEAMS Middle English Texts) (Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1992); Herd, David and Pincus, Anna: Refugee Tales (Manchester, UK: Comma Press, 2016)
Note: Please buy the specific editions listed.
In this course we will study The Canterbury Tales and its continuations, paying special attention to the topics of imitation, innovation, and literary influence. As we learn about the literary traditions Chaucer so deftly passes over and the literary tradition that he in turn engenders, we’ll have the chance to reconsider several assumptions about the relationship between originality and aesthetic value. Is the so-called “father” of English literature as original as we’ve been led to believe? Is imitation really so bad after all?
We begin by reading the Canterbury Tales in detail, asking what Chaucer’s collection of tales can teach us about violence, gender, religion, laughter, race, love, sex, class, and language in the fourteenth century. All topics and themes are up for grabs in this course, but we will pay special attention to how Chaucer draws on and departs from previous literary traditions. We then set out to discern Chaucer’s influence among a variety of fifteenth-century authors. We conclude by considering Chaucer’s influence now. Modern readings will include the Refugee Tales (2016) and the digital humanities Global Chaucers Project, which will allow us to explore the non-Anglophone translation history of Chaucer’s works.
The majority of the readings will be in Middle English but no previous experience is required. In addition to two literary-critical essays, you will also have the chance to craft your own continuation of the Canterbury Tales.
NOTE: We discovered belatedly that a glitch in the enrollment system was preventing students from enrolling in this class, but that problem has now been fixed, so please try again if you were previously blocked from enrolling.
This course satisfies the pre-1800 requirement for the English major.
Greenblatt, S., ed.: The Norton Shakespeare
Additional materials will be distributed through bCourses.
This class focuses on a selection of works from Shakespeare's entire career. We'll be reading a limited number of plays and some of the poetry. One of the main issues we'd like to focus on is the oscillation between "regular" and "irregular." What is the rule, and what is the exception in Shakespeare's works? How is a comedy supposed to end? How does it end? What makes a tragic hero? Is Lear a tragic hero? What are the rules of theater? What are the rules of literature? Who creates them and why? When do they get transgressed, and why? A tentative list of the plays includes A Midsummer Night's Dream, Troilus and Cressida, King Lear, Cymbeline,and The Tempest, as well as some of the sonnets. Two short assignments and a final essay in lieu of a final examination.
This course satisfies the Shakespeare requirement for the English major.
This course, which constitutes a survey of ethnic American literature, asks about the desires, imagination, and labor that go into the American dream. What is the relationship between immigration and dreams of upward mobility in America? This course will examine films, novels, and short stories in which the American dream comes apart at the seams to think about the fantasies of belonging and prosperity that fuel immigration and its effect on how we think about race, class, and citizenship.
Texts may include: America Is in the Heart, Invisible Man, Hunger of Memory, The New Jim Crow, and Ragged Dick.
This course satisfies UC Berkeley's American Cultures requirement.
The Literary Magazine and the Short Story as Genre. This course will be both a short fiction workshop and a craft class studying the literary short story as a genre. Rather than approach literary fiction as the norm from which genre fiction departs, this course will examine the short story as a genre onto itself. We will read contemporary literary magazines and the seminal anthologies establishing the history of the genre, identifying its central conventions, forms and hallmarks. During this investigation, participants will also try their hand at the literary short fiction genre. Students will write literary short stories of their own and we will workshop these as a group. Each participant will be required to workshop one story and a revision.
Note that while during fall and spring semesters admission to 143A requires an application process, no application is needed to register for the summer version of the course.
Note the new instructor (as of 5/10/2019).
Gay, Roxane: Best American Short Stories 2018; Harbach, Chad: MFA vs. NYC
In this eight-week course, we will focus on two things: learning about contemporary publishing venues for short fiction—both traditional journals and online platforms—and workshopping the participants' fiction. Together, we will read stories from print magazines (Paris Review, Tin House, Kenyon Review, Zyzzyva, n+1), anthologies (Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories), and online journals (Electric Literature, Narrative Magazine [PANK], failbetter) in order to discuss how journals articulate a coherent aesthetic for the short story form. Via readings like Mark McGurl's The Program Era and Chad Harbach's MFA vs. NYC, we will also consider this form alongside the rise of the MFA program in order to think about how aesthetic forms both emerge from and push against institutional support/constraints. Each student will draft and revise two short stories; each student will respond to the work of other students in workshop and through a short written response. The final assignment is the submission of the two revised short stories workshopped over the course of the class. Students will be graded on the rigor with which they approach their own fiction and their care in responding to the work of their peers.
A course reader including stories from literary journals and excerpts from The Pogram Era will be made available.
Note that while during fall and spring semesters admission to 143A requires an application process, no application is needed to register for the summer version of the course.
Cheng, Jennifer S.: Moon: Letters, Maps, Poems; Hejinian, Lyn: Positions of the Sun; Reyes, Barbara Jane: Invocation to Daughters; Trevino, Wendy: Cruel Fiction; White, Arisa: You're the Most Beautiful Thing That Ever Happened
This course is a poetry writing workshop. Students will submit new drafts of poems weekly, and we will read and discuss these together, supporting each other's growth as writers. We will also study contemporary examples focusing on poetry of the Bay Area. At the conclusion of the term, students will revise their work, produce chapbooks of poems, and present them at a public reading.
Note that while during fall and spring semesters, admission to 143B requires an application process, no application is needed to register for the summer version of the course.
Reichl, Ruth: The Best American Food Writing 2018
This eight-week summer class centers on workshopping your own literary nonfiction, helping you draw on the distinctive forms and techniques of the personal essay, memoir, travel writing, cultural criticism, and journalistic reportage to speak to, on, about, through, or with food.
Writing thoughtfully about eating presents several peculiar challenges, from the basic difficulty of representing taste through language to the subtle trick of using the ubiquitous and quotidian to shape a distinct and individual voice. In addition to our assigned text (The Best American Food Writing 2018, edited by Ruth Reichl), readings that will help you meet those challenges in your own prose will include pieces by M. F. K. Fisher, Chang-rae Lee, Anthony Bourdain, Jhumpa Lahiri, Fuchsia Dunlop, Gabrielle Hamilton, John McPhee, and a range of other classic and contemporary writers who’ve worked in the genre. Berkeley itself occupies a special place in the history of American food culture, and so we will also draw on its gastronomic resources (read: restaurants, markets, and kitchens) when and wherever possible.
Assignments will include workshopped and revised essays, a series of more informal written exercises, and careful and considered feedback on the work of your peers.
Note that while during fall and spring semesters admission to 143N requires an application process, no application is needed to register for the summer version of the course.
Austen, Jane: Emma; Austen, Jane: Mansfield Park; Austen, Jane: Persuasion; Austen, Jane: Pride and Prejudice; Austen, Jane: Sense and Sensibility
In this course we will read—closely and deeply—a handful of novels by Jane Austen, considering them in terms of their historical context, their stylistic sophistication and innovation, and their enduring popular appeal. Accordingly, we will also explore the cult of Jane Austen that arose in the nineteenth century—when critic George Saintsbury coined the term "Janeite" to describe her proliferating devotees—and that remains alive today in a range of guises, from popular Austen biographies, film and television adaptations, and book clubs, to literary tourism and more. In this way, we will connect our reading experience of Austen with broader questions about popular authorship, mass readerships, and the pleasures and rigors of reading.
Note the change in the instructor. There has been no change in the class time or location.
An introduction to critical thinking about race and ethnicity, focused on films produced in Hollywood between the 1920s and 1960s and independent cinema from the 1980s that responds to these classical precedents. Themes include law and violence, kinship and miscegenation, captivity and rescue, passing and racial impersonation.
Films: Broken Blossoms; The Sheik; The Jazz Singer; Bordertown; Salt of the Earth; The Searchers; Touch of Evil; Imitation of LIfe; West Side Story; El Norte; Chan Is Missing; Do the Right Thing
This course satisfies UC Berkeley's American Cultures requirement.
NOTE: Until March 20, this course was listed as English 31AC, but on that date the course was changed to English 166AC; nothing except the course number and the Class Number (which is now 15972) has changed.
This class considers the capacious genre of the rom-com by examining a range of its concerns (gender & sexuality, feminism, race, romance, narrative closure). We will not only watch films (from classic Hollywood rom-com to more contemporary iterations) but explore the rise of the “rom-com” plot in TV as well (SATC, Mindy Project, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, to name a few). In addition to essays, students will keep film journals. Readings may include those by Cavell, D.A. Miller, Modleski, Radway, Spigel, Sklar, Schatz, and Mellencamp.
This course will examine the historical development of the horror genre in both film and literature. Horror is a notoriously comprehensive genre, borrowing from numerous story-telling and literary traditions. In this class we will address the heterodox nature of this genre, while examining the socio-historical underpinnings of popular works of horror stories and films, paying close attention to representations of race, gender and sexuality.