DOCUMENT RESUME ED 414 607 CS 216 138 AUTHOR Brannon, Lil, Ed.; Greene, Brenda M., Ed. TITLE Rethinking American Literature. INSTITUTION National Council of Teachers of English, Urbana, IL. ISBN ISBN-0-8141-4119-6 PUB DATE 1997-00-00 NOTE 284p. AVAILABLE FROM National Council of Teachers of English, 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, IL 61801-1096 (Stock No. 41196-3050: $19.95 members, $26.95 nonmembers). PUB TYPE Collected Works General (020) Opinion Papers (120) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC12 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Authors; *Cultural Differences; Culture Conflict; Curriculum Development; Higher Education; Introductory Courses; *Literary Criticism; Literary History; *Theory Practice Relationship; *United States Literature IDENTIFIERS Educational Issues; *Ethnic Literature; Literary Canon; *Multicultural Literature; Regional Literature ABSTRACT This volume, the fourth in a series, brings together the conversations of the profession that were explored during the 1993 and 1994 Summer Institute for Teachers of Literature. This anthology of essays considers what "American literature" is and how definitions of this category affect teaching practices. The essays argue for the recovery of often overlooked writers and works such as slave narratives, works by Native Americans, 19th-century women regionalists, and African-Americal, Asian-American, Caribbean, and Latino litorture. Issues of pedagogy are also explored, i.e., curren debates over canon formation, ethnicity, and representation. Essays and their authors are: (1) "Not Born on Fourth of July: Cultural Differences and American Studies" (Gregory S. Jay); (2) "'Not in the Least American': Nineteenth-Century Literary Regionalism as UnAmerican Literature" (Judith Fetterley); 13) "Transcendentalism Then and Now: Towards a Dialogic Theory and Praxis of Multicultural U.S. Literature" (AnaLouise Keating); (4) "A Fusion of Cultures: The Complexities of the Caribbean Character in Literature" (Elizabeth Nunez); (5) "Teaching and Learning across Cultures: The Literature Classroom as a Site for Cultural Transactions" (Joyce C. Harte); (6) "Remembering as Resistance in the Literature of Women of Color" (Brenda M. Greene); (7) "Crossing Cultural Boundaries with Leslie Marmon Silko's 'Ceremony'" (Robert O'Brien Hokanson); (8) "Mirrors, Windows, and Prisms: Teaching Asian American Literature in the P.R.C. and the U.S.A." (Mary Louise Buley-Meissner); (9) "Father Martinez: Folk Hero or Dangerous Infidel? Rereading Willa Cather's 'Death Comes for the Archbishop'" (Judith Beth Cohen);(10) "Negotiating Difference: Teaching Multicultural Literature" (Patricia Bizzell);(11) "Teaching American Literature as Cultural Encounter: Models for Organizing the Introductory Course" (Marjorie Pryse); (12) "But, Is It Good Enough to Teach?" (Frances Smith Foster);(13) "Teaching the Rhetoric of Race: A Rhetorical Approach to Multicultural Pedagogy" (John Alberti);(14) "Homeless in the Golden Land: Joan Didion's Regionalism" (Louise Z. Smith);(15) "Beyond 'Beyond the Cultural Wars': Students Teaching Themselves the Conflicts" (James S. Laughlin); and (16)"Teaching Others: A Cautionary Tale" (Joseph F. Trimmer). (NKA) Rethinking U S DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) it Brannon and Brenda M. Greene ,nomrnyv AVAILABLE Rethinking American Literature 3 NCTE Editorial Board: Pat Cordeiro, Colette Daiute, Bobbi Fisher, Brenda Greene, Richard Luckert, Bill McBride, Aileen Pace Nilsen, Jerrie Cobb Scott, Karen Smith, Chair, ex officio, Michael Greer, ex officio Two-Year College, Four-Year College, and University Section Committee: Frank Madden, Chair, Westchester Community College; Gail E. Hawisher, Assistant Chair, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Pat Belanoff, SUNYStony Brook; Theresa Enos, CCCC Representative, University of Arizona; Dawn Rodrigues, Colorado State University; Ida Simmons Short, Schoolcraft College; Howard Tinberg, Bristol Commu- nity College; Demetrice A. Worley, Bradley University; Collett Dilworth, CEE Repre- sentative, East Carolina University; Louise Smith, ex officio, Editor, College English, University of Massachusetts at Boston; Miriam Chaplin, Executive Committee Liaison, Rutgers University; Patricia Lambert Stock, NCTE Staff Liaison 4 Rethinking American Literature Edited by Lil Brannon University at Albany, SUNY Brenda M. Greene Medgar Evers College, CUNY National Council of Teachers of English 1111 W. Kenyon Road, Urbana, Illinois 61801-1096 Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint the following material: "Not Born on the Fourth of July: Cultural Differences and American Studies," by Gregory S. Jay, originally published in After Political Correctness: The Humanities and Society in the 1990s, edited by Christopher Newfield and Ronald Strickland. Copyright 1995 by Westview Press. Reprinted by permission of Westview Press. The excerpt on 57 from "Cihuatlyotl, Woman Alone," originally published in Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestizo. San Francisco: Spinsters/Aunt Lute. Copyright © 1987 by Gloria Anzaldtia; reprinted by permission of the author. The excerpt on 59 from "La Prieta," originally published in This Bridge Called My Back: Writings by Radical Women of Color. Eds. Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldtia. New York: Kitchen Table: Women of Color Press. Copyright 1983 by Gloria Anzaldua; reprinted by permission of the author. Not in the Least American': Nineteenth-Century Literary Regionalism as unAmerican Litera- ture" by Judith Fetter ley appeared in a slightly different version in College English 56 (1994): 877-95. Manuscript Editor: Jamie Hutchinson Production Editors: Jamie Hutchinson, Kurt Austin Interior Design: Tom Kovacs for TGK Design Cover Photographs and Design: Evelyn C. Shapiro NCTE Stock Number: 41196-3050 ©1997 by the National Council of Teachers of English. All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. It is the policy of NCTE in its journals and other publications to provide a forum for the open discussion of ideas concerning the content and the teaching of English and the language arts. Publicity accorded to any particular point of view does not imply en- dorsement by the Executive Committee, the Board of Directors, or the membership at large, except in announcements of policy, where such endorsement is clearly specified. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rethinking American literature / edited by Lil Brannon, Brenda M. Greene. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8141-4119-6 (pbk.) 1. American literatureStudy and teaching (Higher) 2. American literature History and criticismTheory, etc. 3. American literatureMinority authors Study and teaching (Higher) 4. Cultural conflictUnited States. 5. Canon (Literature) I. Brannon, Lil.II. Greene, Brenda M., 1950 . III. National Council of Teachers of English. PS42.R471997 810'.9dc21 97-15044 CIP Contents Introduction Lil Brannon and Brenda M. Greene vii I Reshaping American Literature 1. Not Born on the Fourth of July: Cultural Differences and American Studies 3 Gregory S. Jay 2. "Not in the Least American": Nineteenth-Century Literary Regionalism as unAmerican Literature 32 Judith Fetter ley 3. Transcendentalism Then and Now: Towards a Dialogic Theory and Praxis of Multicultural U.S. Literature 50 Ana Louise Keating II Crossing Cultural Boundaries 4. A Fusion of Cultures: The Complexities of the Caribbean Character in Literature 71 Elizabeth Nunez 5. Teaching and Learning across Cultures: The Literature Classroom as a Site for Cultural Transactions 81 Joyce C. Harte 6. Remembering as Resistance in the Literature of Women of Color 97 Brenda M. Greene 7. Crossing Cultural Boundaries with Leslie Marmon Silko's Ceremony 115 Robert O'Brien Hokanson 8. Mirrors, Windows, and Prisms: Teaching Asian American Literature in the P.R.C. and the U.S.A. 128 Mary Louise Buley-Meissner v vi 9. Father Martinez: Folk Hero or Dangerous Infidel? Rereading Willa Cather's Death Comes for the Archbishop 146 Judith Beth Cohen III Negotiating Differences 10. Negotiating Difference: Teaching Multicultural Literature 163 Patricia Bizzell 11. Teaching American Literature as Cultural Encounter: Models for Organizing the Introductory Course 175 Marjorie Pryse 12. But, Is It Good Enough to Teach? 193 Frances Smith Foster 13. Teaching the Rhetoric of Race: A Rhetorical Approach to Multicultural Pedagogy 203 John Alberti 14. Homeless in the Golden Land: Joan Didion's Regionalism 216 Louise Z. Smith 15. Beyond Beyond the Cultural Wars: Students Teaching Themselves the Conflicts 231 James S. Laughlin 16. Teaching Others: A Cautionary Tale 249 Joseph F. Trimmer Index 257 Editors 271 Contributors 273 Introduction Lil Brannon University at Albany, SUNY Brenda M. Greene Medgar Evers College, CUNY This volume, the fourth in a series, brings together the conversations of the profession that were explored during the 1993 and 1994 Summer Institutes for Teachers of Literature, sponsored by the College Section Steering Committee of the National Council of Teachers of English. The voices represented here come from not only those who participated