English 133T
Topics in African American Literature and Culture: The African American Essay
| Section | Semester | Instructor | Time | Location | Course Areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spring 2021 | Best, Stephen M.
|
MWF 11-12 |
Book List
Als, Hilton: The Women; Baldwin, James: No Name in the Street; Baldwin, James: Notes of a Native Son; Baldwin, James: The Fire Next Time; Coates, Ta-Nehisi : Between the World and Me; Rankine, Claudia: Citizen; Wright, Richard: 12 Million Black Voices
Description
Readers of James Baldwin, W. E. B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, and other writers, often turn to their essays with a mind to better understanding their novels and other literary writing. In this course we will consider the African-American essay as a form in its own right, one that rewards close formal analysis. The essay (from Old French essai, “attempt”) is a sort of rhetorical trial balloon, implying firstness, a want of finish, and a rigorous nonsystematicity. We will consider the matter of incompletion in two respects -- the essay as it engages the topic of the incomplete project of black freedom, and the essay as ongoing experiment in form – with a goal of puzzling out how the two are related.
Other Recent Sections of This Course
fall, 2022 |
||
133T/1 |
African American Literature and Culture: The Art of Black Diaspora |
|
fall, 2021 |
||
133T/1 |
African American Literature and Culture: Humor and the Neo-Slave Narrative |
|
spring, 2021 |
||
133T/2 |
Topics in African American Literature and Culture: The Art of the Black Diaspora |
|
summer, 2020 |
||
133T/1 |
Topics in African American Literature and Culture: Humor and the Neo-Slave Narrative |
|
Back to Semester List
University of California, Berkeley
English Department
322 Wheeler Hall,
Berkeley, CA 94720-1030
general phone: 510-642-3467
office hours: M-Th, 10-12 and 1-4
©UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY ENGLISH DEPARTMENT