ENGLISH 400 - The Long Postcolonial Novel-Prof.Hewett-Smith

Institution:

University of Richmond

Subject:

Description:

This seminar will explore the phenomenon of the long postcolonial novel. From the late 1980's through the late 1990's, coincident with the explosion of postcolonial fiction generally, appear dozens of very long imaginative works of postcolonial prose. This course will seek first to explain this phenomenon within the context of postcolonial literature more generally. The most basic questions it will ask are: What are these works Is this a new genre, a new literary form Why do the long novels appear when they do-and why in this shape What aesthetic and cultural work does this form accomplish For whom And to what end "Form" has been a vexed category in the study of postcolonial fiction, particularly when it seems to emulate an easily recognizable western genre like the novel. The form of the postcolonial long novel may be understood to be derivative of earlier colonial forms and genres; or it may be viewed as an attempt to assimilate some sort of "native," and therefore "authentic," literary or generic tradition; or it may be conceived as an attempt to create an altogether new form. This seminar will consider the complicated relationship between the aesthetic questions of form and the political and cultural production of literary value. Until quite recently, postcolonial literature has been studied and understood largely in only social and political terms. There has been little interest in aesthetics; indeed, little engagement at all with these works as aesthetic objects. The course will, ultimately, attempt to reclaim a space for aesthetics in the study of postcolonial fiction both by identifying a poetics of form for the postcolonial novel, and by analyzing its complex relationship to postcolonial literature, culture, and ideology. Authors to be read will include Salman Rushdie, Rohinton Mistry, and Vikram

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.richmond.edu

Phone Number:

(804) 289-8000

Regional Accreditation:

Southern Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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