CLEN W3938 - Literature as Property

Institution:

Columbia University in the City of New York

Subject:

Description:

Prerequisites: Permission of the instructor. (Seminar). Recent theories of "World Literature" have revived the figure of a "literary marketplace" to explain the workings of a global literary system-a system that favors some authors, genres, styles, themes, plots, settings, etc. to the disadvantage of others. These neoliberal models of "World Literature" tend to treat the economic idea of literary production as simply a metaphor for free-marketauthorial and aesthetic competition; and yet, there are real material implications: according to the UN Development Programme, more than 97% of the world's intellectual property is held by the (post-)industrialized countries of the Global North. This course takes the problem of a "literary market" literally-looking at the history of the idea and thefunctions of literature as a commodity. Most of the literary texts we'll read come from the postcolonial or Third World, where questions about the development of culture have consistently been intertwined with questions about the development of human and natural resources-and where problems with the ownership of ideas have been acutely inflected by the historical forces of the slave trade, colonialism, neoimperialism, and globalization. Thus, we'll also look at the underside of a global cultural and economic system by examining the place of plagiarism, parody, piracy, fraud, trafficking and other illicit textual activities in the creation and circulation of world literature. In addition to novels in which property issues are at stake(at the levels of both form and theme), we will read theories of property and commodities, the public good and the intellectual commons. Among other things, we will examine the relations between literature and other commodities and resources; and we will study how forms of literary expression are commodified as intellectual and cultural property-in terms of copyrights, patents, trademarks, and corporate secrets as well as in terms ofheritage, patrimony, and "minority culture." Likely literary authors include: Chris Abani (Nigeria/U.S.), Jorge Luis Borges (Argentina), Caryl Phillips (England-St. Kitts), Salman Rushdie (India), Yambo Ouologuem (Mali), Alice Randall (U.S.), Nuruddin Farah (Somalia), B. Wongar (Australia), Kathy Acker (U.S.), Zakes Mda (South Africa), Yann Martell (Canada), Tahar ben Jelloun (Morocco-France), Bessie Head (Botswana-South Africa), Spider Robinson (U.S.-Canada). E-mail Professor Slaughter (jrs272@columbia.edu) by noon on Wednesday, November 16th, with the subject heading, "World Literature seminar." In your message, include basic information: your name, school, major, year of study, and relevant courses taken, along with a brief statement about why you are interested in taking the course.

Credits:

4.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.columbia.edu

Phone Number:

(212) 854-1754

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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