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E 350 R Modernist Fictional Autobiography E 350 R l Modernist Fictional Autobiography Instructor: Toth, N. Areas: F Unique #: 35594 Flags: none Semester: Spring 2019 Restrictions: none Cross-lists: none Computer Instruction: no. Prerequisites: Prerequisite: Nine semester hours of coursework in English or rhetoric and writing Description: Why choose to write your own life story under the guise of A fictionAl chArActer? This course will explore possible answers to this question by exAmining a number of fictionAl AutobiogrAphies written by British experimentAl novelists in the first decAdes of the 20th century. We will first consider the pArAdoxicAl term “fictionAl AutobiogrAphy”, contrAsting it with trAditionAl autobiographical writing, its topoi (commonplAces), and the reading pact it implies. We will then explore the different roles the literAry double might plAy for An emerging author in A pArticularly tumultuous historicAl context. These texts invite us to exAmine the vexed relAtionship experimentAl literAry movements estAblished with sociAl identities, personAl expression and power differences in society At a time when the public And literAry sphere were experiencing unprecedented expAnsion. ParticulAr Attention will be given to the recurrent motifs of betrAyAl And fidelity to communities of origin (gender, family, clAss, religion, nAtion, empire, etc), which give rise to A rAnge of politicAl visions of self-hood And community. AcAdemic / leArning goAls: Students mAy expect to mAke progress in the following AreAs: literary analysis, thAt is, the cApAcity to analyze, interpret and comment upon literary texts; critical thinking skills, thAt is, the cApAcity to synthesize, evAluAte And compAre informAtion, to identify And chAllenge weAknesses in Arguments And to propose AlternAtives; communication skills, thAt is, interpretAtion And expression of ideas through written And oral communication. Texts: Required: • Joseph ConrAd, A Personal Record, Northwestern University Press, 1988 • Joseph ConrAd, Heart of Darkness and other stories, Oxford University Press, 2008 • James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Norton, 2007 • JeAn Rhys, Voyage in the Dark, Norton, 1994 • D.H. LAwrence, Sons and Lovers, Oxford University Press, 2009 • MinA Loy, Insel, Melville House, 2014 • Christopher Isherwood, The Berlin Stories, New Directions, 2008 ExtrActs from the following works will be provided in clAss: SAint Augustin, The Confessions, JeAn-Jacques RousseAu, Confessions, Philippe Lejeune, On Autobiography, Serge Doubrovsky, Fils, Hywel Dix, Autofiction in English, T.S. Eliot, ‘TrAdition And the IndividuAl Talent’, Jacques RAncière, Dissensus: On Politics and Aesthetics, ChinuA Achebe, "An ImAge of AfricA: RAcism in ConrAd's 'HeArt of Darkness'", DjunA Barnes, Ryder; André Breton, Nadja, JeAn Rhys, Smile, Please, MinA Loy, ‘The Feminist MAnifesto’, ‘Auto-FaciAl Construction’, Christopher Isherwood, Christopher and his kind. In Addition, students mAy wish to reAd the following works relAted to the clAss theme: LAngston Hughes, Not without Laughter, BlAise CendrArs, Moravagine, New York Review of Books, 2004; JeAn Genet, The Thief’s Journal, Grove AtlAntic, 2018; Louis- FerdinAnd Céline, Death on Credit, Riverrun Press, 1992; EdouArd Louis, The End of Eddy, VintAge, 2017. They mAy Also wish to wAtch the following films: Apocalypse Now (FrAnces Ford CoppolA, 1979); Cabaret (Bob Fosse, 1972). Requirements & Grading: The clAss will be conducted As much As possible As A seminAr, which meAns thAt prepArAtion for clAss is necessAry And discussion is encourAged. Each student will be asked to prepAre, with guidance from the teacher, A short presentation on one of the texts on the progrAm and leAd class discussion (25%). There will be two written Assignments (25% eAch), one of which will be A creAtive response, And An exAm in the finAl week of clAss (20%). GrAding is based on the quality, Acuity And clArity of the analyses and interpretations proposed, And, in the cAse of creAtive responses, the pertinence And originAlity of the work. AttendAnce is strongly encourAged but will not be used to determine the class grAde. However, pArticipAtion in clAss discussion And debAtes will determine the final 5% of the grAde. Plus/minus finAl grAdes will be Assigned. Schedule: Week 1 • ClAss 1 – 22 JAn: Introduction. • ClAss 2 – 24 JAn: Autobiography 1: EuropeAns exAmining themselves. Confessions and construction of the subject from Saint Augustin to RousseAu. o Required reAding: extrActs from SAint Augustin And RousseAu (texts distributed in clAss 1) Week 2 • ClAss 3 – 29 JAn: Autobiography 2: From RousseAu to the theorizAtion of the “autobiogrAphicAl pAct” (Philippe Lejeune). • ClAss 4 – 31 JAn: Fictional autobiography. An “oxymoronic pact”. o Required reAding: § Philippe Lejeune, On Autobiography, chApter 1: “The AutobiogrAphicAl pAct”, pp. 1-30. (text provided) § Hywel Dix (ed), Autofiction in English, PalgrAve MAcmillAn, 2018, “Autofiction in English: The Story So FAr”, pp. 1-23. (text provided). Week 3 • ClAss 5 – 5 Feb. The first four decades of the 20th century: elements of historical contextualization. ColoniAlism, the rise of nationalism, enfrAnchisement And the ideA of democrAcy, world wArs, economic crises. • ClAss 6 – 7 Feb. The first four decades of the 20th century: literary avant-gardes. The doctrine of impersonality, the doctrine of literary autonomy and the politics of literature. o Required reAding: § T. S. Eliot, “TrAdition And the individuAl tAlent” (1928) (text provided) § Jacques RAncière, Dissensus. On Politics and Aesthetics, ed. And trAns. Steve CorocAn, Continuum books, 2010, chApter 11: “The Politics of LiterAture”, pp. 152-168. (text provided) o FIRST WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT SET - 05 FEBRUARY Week 4 • ClAss 7 – 12 Feb. Autobiography versus Fictional Autobiography. The case of Conrad 1. PresentAtion of A Personal Record. • ClAss 8 – 14 Feb. Autobiography versus Fictional Autobiography. The case of Conrad 2. ContrAst of A Personal Record with Heart of Darkness. FrAme nArrAtion And the strAtegy of distAncing. o Required reAding: § Joseph ConrAd, A Personal Record, A Personal Record, Northwestern University Press, 1988. § Joseph ConrAd, Heart of Darkness and other tales, Oxford University Press, 2008, pArt I of Heart of Darkness. Week 5 • ClAss 9 – 19 Feb. Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness 1. Empire, coloniAlism and the other. • ClAss 10 – 21 Feb. Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness 2. The double. o Required reAding: § Joseph ConrAd, Heart of Darkness and other tales, Oxford University Press, 2008, entire text of Heart of Darkness § ChinuA Achebe, "An ImAge of AfricA: RAcism in ConrAd's 'HeArt of Darkness'" MassAchusetts Review. 18. 1977 (text provided). Week 6 • ClAss 11 – 26 Feb. Joseph Conrad: Heart of Darkness 3: secrets, loyAlty And betrAyAl. • ClAss 12 – 28 Feb. Workshop: writing one’s own fictionAl AutobiogrAphy o Required reAding: § Joseph ConrAd, Heart of Darkness and other tales, Oxford University Press, 2008, entire text of Heart of Darkness o FIRST WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE - 28 FEBRUARY (25%) Week 7 • ClAss 13 – 5 MAr. James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 1. Elements of JAmes Joyce’s biogrAphy. Stephen DedAlus as A double. ReAding the incipit, introduction to the themes of fAmily, religion And nAtion. • ClAss 14 – 7 MAr. James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 2. The question of RomAnticism. The birth of A modernist version of the Artist And the self. o Required reAding: § James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Norton, 2007. ChApters 1-3 Week 8 • ClAss 15 – 12 MAr. James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as Young Man 3. Modernism and the nation. Anti-coloniAlist Anti- nationalism And cosmopolitAnism. • ClAss 16 – 14 MAr. James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 4. The betrAyAl of the mother tongue, the diversion of confession. o Required reAding: § James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Norton, 2007. ChApters 4-5. o SECOND WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT SET – 12 MARCH Spring Break Week 9 • ClAss 17 – 26 MAr. Jean Rhys, Voyage in the Dark 1, A coloniAl subject in Europe. Inverting positions. • ClAss 18 – 28 MAr. JeAn Rhys, Voyage in the Dark 2, InterminAble subordination. AmbivAlent relAtionships to hierArchy. o Required reAding: § JeAn Rhys, Voyage in the Dark, Norton, 1994. Week 10 • ClAss 19 – 2 Apr. D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers 1. Questions of fAmily, questions of clAss. The intimAte sphere And clAss structures. • ClAss 20 – 4 Apr. D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers 2. Rejecting the fAther, creAting AlternAte lineAges. o Required reAding: § D.H. LAwrence, Sons and Lovers. Oxford University Press, 2009. Week 11 • ClAss 21 – 9 Apr. D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce and the “family romance”. • ClAss 22 – 11 Apr. DjunA BArnes, Ryder. ImAgining An AlternAtive family. o Required reAding: § D.H. LAwrence, Sons and Lovers. Oxford University Press, 2009. § James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Norton, 2007. § DjunA Barnes, Ryder, extrActs provided. o SECOND WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT DUE — 11 APRIL (25%) Week 12 • ClAss 23 - 16 Apr. MinA Loy, Insel 1. Questioning impersonAlity, mAteriAlizing A gendered personAlity • ClAss 24 – 18 Apr. MinA Loy, Insel 2. Insel versus Andre Breton’s Nadja. Questioning the gender biAs of the surreAlist imAginAtion. o Required reAding: § MinA Loy, Insel, Melville House, 2014 § MinA Loy, ‘A Feminist MAnifesto’; ‘Auto-faciAl construction’ (text provided) § André Breton, Nadja (extrActs provided) Week 13 • ClAss 25 – 23 Apr. Christopher Isherwood, The Berlin Stories 1. Truth, fiction
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