This is how the rest of the classes break out:
American Modernism/Contemporary Literature:
Native Son by Richard Wright (1946), Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor (1952), Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg (1955), The Armies of the Night by Norman Mailer (1968), The Dream of a Common Language: Poems 1974-1977 by Adrienne Rich, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy (1985), Paradise by Toni Morrison (1997), The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion (2005), American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (2006), McSweeney's Issue (2011).
So I have three of these read so far. The McSweeney's issue is strange- you can see from the pictures in the post below that it is a box painted like a head that you open to reveal a bunch of pocket books and pamphlets (and I thank "Read it for the Words" at Amazon for the description of the contents that follows so that I didn't have to type it all out). It contains:
1. "MENU" CARD
An L-shaped card comes wrapped around the left and back sides of the "head." Side one, visible through the shrinkwrap, is an illustrated table of contents. Side two is a brief introduction to the issue. Once removed, this card tucks neatly into the box. And it serves the admirable function of keeping words off the box itself. (The box is wall-to-wall art; not a line of text anywhere.)
2. FOUNTAIN CITY, A NOVEL WRECKED BY MICHARL CHABON
Four chapters of Chabon's abandoned-in-1992 second novel, published here for the first time. Half of this 112-page mini-book consists of the novel excerpt, and it's good fun to read. The other half -- the truly inspired half -- consists of Chabon's blow-by-blow notes on the excruciating six-year process of writing the book before giving it up to write "Wonder Boys" in a matter of months. Reading this, I felt like I was taking a tour through the author's mind. I couldn't have enjoyed it more. As a bonus, the booklet is wrapped in a handsome jacket that folds out into a mini-poster of the drawing that inspired Chabon to try writing the book in the first place.
3. A FOUR-POSTCARD PAINTING OF A CATFISH-SHAPED SUBMARINE
A sweet little painting by Ian Huebert, broken into four postcards. It's nice to see some straight-up art in McSweeney's from time to time. I was a big fan of McSweeney's recent box of 100 art postcards, and I like these four cards a lot, too. I wish they'd included two sets: one to mail and one to keep.
4. A BOOK OF LETTERS AND STORIES
Because this booklet is contained within a human head, I found myself noticing head- and mind-related themes in many of the pieces. For example: Jesse Eisenberg, star of the recent Facebook movie, has a funny letter in this Facebox about psychotropic drugs. I hope it's fiction. Ismet Prcic's disorienting story about a play was disorienting and open-ended. Is it a hallucination? Ricardo Nuila's story features a character who insists that "the brain is a box." Colm Toibin's story is sexually, sensually head-involved. Davy Rothbart's letter is a kind of mental sketch for a last will and testament. I really liked the selection here and read it all in one sitting with the exception of the Toibin, which took me a couple of tries to get through.
5. EARLY MORNING AT THE STATION, BY ANDREW KENNEDY HUTCHISON BOYD
"A nineteenth-century Scot's meditation on irreality," according to the table of contents. In other words: a neat six-page essay about how it's sometimes hard to believe in the things that are right in front of our faces. At one point, the author expresses frustration with "blockheads," and I took a fresh look at the sweaty block-headed box in my lap.
6. DON'T GET DISTRACTED, BY SOPHIA CARA FRYDMAN
This mysterious illustrated story booklet feels, in the hand, like a religious tract. A young female artist meets a probably-crazy guy on the street. He claims to be a retired cop and offers unsolicited tips on sidewalk-walking etiquette. It takes about a minute to read, but the artwork (drawn by the author) is painstakingly detailed, and I keep coming back to it.
7. THE DOMESTIC CRUSADERS, BY WAJAHAT ALI
A stage play about a day in the life of a Muslim-American family, written by a young Muslim-American writer, that feels like an episode of the Cosby Show, but with the kind of more-serious twists you might expect to find in a play (and not, say, in an '80s sitcom). I enjoyed this booklet in itself, but it feels especially good in context, as one of many objects floating around inside a head, behind a balding white guy's stressed-out facial expression.
8. A FORTY-INCH SCROLL OF FORTUNE-COOKIE FORTUNES
A bunch of very, very funny fake fortune-cookie fortunes "to clip and use." As with the postcards, I wish they'd have included two: one to keep and one to use. Extra points for the paper and printing style. The scroll, if you were to cut it up, would look exactly like a bunch of little fortunes.
9. THE INSTRUCTIONS, BY ADAM LEVIN
The first chapter from Levin's new 1,000-page novel of the same name. I've been calling my loogies "gooze" all week thanks to this text. Haven't picked up the actual whole book yet.
10. JUNGLE GERONIMO IN GAY PAREE, BY JACK "L. P. EAVES" PENDARVIS
A ridiculous Tarzan-esque tale, written by the hilarious Jack Pendarvis (of "The Mysterious Secret of the Valuable Treasure" and "Awesome" fame) as though it is a 1960s abridgment of a book written in the 1910s. This is a headache-inducing conceit in the best possible way, with illustrations by frequent McSweeney's collaborator Michael Kupperman. This booklet was unabashedly Jack Pendarvisy for nearly 100 pages, and I laughed out loud and loved it.
11. MA SU MON
A brief first-person narrative from Ma Su Mon, a student protester in Burma who was detained and physically abused by the government because she supports democracy. This is an excerpt from a longer narrative in a forthcoming book on Burmese human-rights crises from McSweeney's "Voice of Witness" series of oral history books.
12. BICYCLE BUILT FOR TWO, BY TIM HEIDECKER AND GREGG TURKINGTON
This is a fake screenplay (full-length!), "written for Dana Carvey and Mike Myers" (not really -- it's soooo corny) by Tim from "Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" and Gregg Turkington, a.k.a. Neil Hamburger. If you are, like me, a sincere fan of (1) Neil Hamburger's signature flat-tire humor, and (2) the movies "Wayne's World" and "Major League," then I bet you'll like this booklet, too.
I have also never taken a literature course that includes a graphic novel which is what American Born Chinese turns out to be. We will be studying these in chronological order (the order I listed them) so this will be towards the end of the class but i am interested to see how this will be tackled.
I am taking two seminars this semester. The first one is Postmodern Victorian Novels
Course description: "This is a course focusing upon contemporary novels in English. The Spring 2011 version will give a particular spin to the topic, as it will investigate “Postmodern Victorian Novels,” novels written between 1970 and 2003 that are set in the Victorian period, but adopt singularly postmodern methods by which to convey Victorian stories. To establish a context of “authentic” Victorian fiction."
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by R.L. Stevenson (1886), The French Lieutenant's Woman by John Fowles (1969) and Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood (1996) are up first in this seminar. The rest of the considerable reading list for this class is: Fingersmith by Sarah Waters (2002), Possession by A.S. Byatt (1990), Middlemarch by George Eliot (1871-74), Great Expectations by Charles Dickens (1860-1861), and Jack Maggs by Peter Carey (1997). We will also be choosing a novel to read and compare with the selection later in the course. Thankfully I have read all these books and re-read all but two of them so far in preparation for the class so I don't feel so pressured! Victorian and Neo-victorian are my favourite genres of literature so I have been looking forward to this seminar very much.
The second seminar I'm taking is Beyond Home Remedy: Women, Medicine, and Science in the Renaissance
course description: "Following the opening of an exhibition on the subject at the Folger Shakespeare Library guest-curated by Prof. Laroche, this course explores the practice of medicine by women of sixteenth and seventeenth-century England as a context for understanding the literary culture of that place and time. Through this focus, students will gain a wider perspective on both Renaissance literature and women’s history as well as an understanding of the continuum between women’s practices and early scientific developments in the period. They will also be introduced to various research issues and methods in the advanced study of literature and learn to develop their own research focus.
The works will be studying are intriguing. It will include women’s recipe books, Isabella Whitney’s A Sweet Nosegay, William Shakespeare’s All’s Well That Ends Well and/or Macbeth, Margaret Hoby’s Diary, Margaret Cavendish’s World’s Olio, Robert Boyle’s Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours, Brilliana Harley’s letters, Jane Sharp’s Midwife’s Book, and Hannah Woolley’s The Queen-like Closet. Most of the works to be read will be accessed in online databases in our Uni library!
I am excited for this seminar -- I only chose to take this because I studied Shakespeare's Tragedies and Romances with Dr. Laroche last semester and she is a fabulous professor who is passionate about her subject and enthusiastic in class. It was a fantastic Shakespeare class and I am looking forward to learning so much from her in the next four to five months!
Well I had better get back to my reading I am determined to have all the novels read by the end of next week so I can concentrate during the courses on studying them and not keeping up with the reading load!
Happy New School Year!
