123250 AR Literature Course - Literature 1/2 (MA) American/North American (2016S)

In the last fifty years, Canadian fiction has asserted itself on the main stage of the world's literatures, arguably taking a top position in a realm Canada has never chosen. From the beginnings of Canadian fiction in the last years of the nineteenth century, Canada has progressed rapidly to a place where it now has writers winning the Nobel Prize in literature. To map out the complexity of current Canadian fiction, this seminar will begin with the Nobel laureate herself, Alice Munro, and study her formidable collection of short stories, Lives of Girls and Women. Paralleling Munro's creativity is Margaret Atwood, winner of, among much else, the Booker Prize; the seminar will focus its attention on her remarkable novel of the past, Alias Grace. Complementing Munro's achievement is Rohinton Mistry, an arrival in Canada from India, whose Tales from Firozsha Baag is indebted to Munro’s collection; Mistry has also published three novels, each of them nominated for the Booker Prize. Thomas King's Green Grass, Running Water is a Native account of modern life, uniting the worlds of Native mythology, Christianity, and postmodernism. And Michael Ondaatje, another immigrant this time from Sri Lanka, has kept Canadians fascinated with his novels for four decades; The Cat's Table is a haunting reflection, and non-autobiographical too, of a nine-year-old’s endless fascination with the world around himself. The seminar will look at these five books, studying their texts within the framework of their cultural and social contexts. Five authors, five great books, five engrossing discussions of them and the place of Canadian fiction in the context of contemporary times.
This seminar explores five major Canadian writers of the present, seeking to understand the themes of their books. Through a thorough familiarity with the short stories and novels under discussion, the seminar examines the writers themselves, who they are, what they are writing, and the importance of the book singled out for presentation. As we analyze these books, we will attempt to outline their writing styles and to highlight their significance.

SYLLABUS (updated):
The major part of the course is a knowledge of the five books which we will be studying in depth.

Monday, May 9th
Introduction to the course - background to the fiction. Introduction to the Canadian short story. Introduction to Alice Munro, including the film about her.

Tuesday, May 10th
Lecture and discussion of Lives of Girls and Women. If time, introduction to Rohinton Mistry.

Wednesday, May 11th
Lecture and discussion of Tales from Firozsha Baag. Classroom presentations.

Thursday, May 12th
Finishing Tales from Firozsha Baag. Introduction of Thomas King.

Wednesday, May 18th
Green Grass, Running Water. Classroom presentations.

Thursday, May 19th
Introduction to Margaret Atwood. Alias Grace.

Friday, May 20th
Introduction to Michael Ondaatje and the worlds of his fiction. Classroom presentations.

Monday, May 23rd
Final discussion of The Cat's Table. Closing remarks about contemporary Canadian fiction.