2014 Prizing 'National Allegories'

    PLEASE NOTE: THIS PAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. NOT ALL INFORMATION IS VERIFIED AND RELIABLE YET.

• Time: Thu, 10:00 - 12:00
• Venue: A01 0-006
• Lecturer: Anna Auguscik
• Modul: ang614 Genres: Cultural, Historical and Theoretical Perspectives

• Course Description:

In 1986, literary critic Fredric Jameson published an article called "Third World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism". Jameson described the distinct characteristics of "third-world literature" as portraying public (historical, national) events via private individuals (characters) for which he used the concept of "national allegory". A year later, another literary theorist, Aijaz Ahmad, responded to Jameson's article and criticized the simplifications and generalizations which ensued from combining the two terms all too quickly. The exchange which was given room on the pages of the literary periodical Social Text lay the grounds for a controversy between postcolonial and marxist theorists.

In our seminar, we will read and analyse two contemporary novels, JM Coetzee's Disgrace (1999) and Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach (2007). In a second step, we will discuss them with reference to the Jameson/Ahmad controversy and see if and how they work as 'national allegories'. In a third step, we will take a look at these critically acclaimed and prize-winning novels and test the question if awards, in particular the Man Booker Prize for Fiction, aim at recognizing titles which correspond with Jameson's concept.

Please, make sure to purchase and read the two novels in advance (both will be made available at the CvO bookshop). Your reading of them is prerequisite to the course.

• JM Coetzee. Disgrace [1999]. London: Vintage, 2000.
• Ian McEwan. On Chesil Beach [2007]. London: Vintage, 2008.

• For a preliminary seminar plan, see below.

• Course Requirements

• Requirements for 6 KP: regular attendance and a written/oral contribution in the form of a project, with a term paper of ca. 10 pp. based on the topic of the project.
• Die aktive Teilnahme besteht aus folgenden Komponenten

• regelmäßige Anwesenheit: max. 3 Abwesenheiten und gegebenenfalls Nacharbeit
• Vor- und Nachbereitung des Seminarstoffs (z. B. Protokolle, Aufgaben, Vorbereitung/Lektüre von Texten)
• Entwicklung einer wissenschaftlichen Fragestellung aus dem Problembereich des Seminars, z.B. durch:

• Übernahme von Impulsreferaten, Präsentationen, Kurzpräsentationen o.ä.
• Entwicklung einer Research Paper Outline im Laufe des Semesters (die Zeitangaben verstehen sich als Empfehlungen): Wahl eines Themenbereichs (3.-5.Woche), Eingrenzung (ca. 8.-10.Woche), Abstract mit Fragestellung inkl. Forschungsbibliographie (RPO) (ca. 12.Woche), Vorstellung der Fragestellung in der letzten Semestersitzung.

Session 1 Thu, 24.04.2014

• Introduction, Seminar Plan

Part I: Close Reading

Session 2 Thu, 08.05.2014

• JM Coetzee's Disgrace (1999): narration and characterization

Session 3 Thu, 15.05.2014

• JM Coetzee's Disgrace (1999): themes and plot structure

Session 4 Thu, 22.05.2014

• Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach (2007): narration and characterization

Session 5 Thu, 05.06.2014

• Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach (2007): themes and plot structure

   [Specify research interest until 12 June]

Part II: "National Allegories"

Session 6 Thu, 12.06.2014

• What is an allegory? Cf. Figurative Speech
• "National Allegories" – The debate about Fredric Jameson’s "Third World Literature in the Age of Multinational Capitalism"

• Jameson, Fredric. "Third World Literature in the Era of Multinational Capitalism". Social Text 15 (1986): 65-88.
• Ahmad, Aijaz. "Jameson's Rhetoric of Otherness and the 'National Allegory'". Social Text 17 (1987): 3-25.*

Session 7 Thu, 19.06.2014

• JM Coetzee's Disgrace (1999) as national allegory

Session 8 Thu, 26.06.2014

• Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach (2007) as national allegory

Part III: The Man Booker Prize for Fiction and National Allegories

Session 9 Thu, 03.07.2014

• JM Coetzee's Disgrace (1999): Winner of the Booker Prize 1999

Session 10 Thu, 10.07.2014

• Ian McEwan's On Chesil Beach (2007): Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2007

 [Hand in RPOs until 17 July]

Part IV: Discussion and Outlook

Session 11 Thu, 17.07.2014

• Historical perspective and discussion
• course evaluation

Session 12 Thu, 24.07.2014

• Outlook: Theory Revisited
• Feedback on course evaluation.

Materials

Bibliography

Reading Material

Further Reading

• Huggan, Graham. 1994. "The Postcolonial Exotic: Salman Rushdie and the Booker of Bookers." Transition 64: 22-29.
• Todd, Richard. 1996. Consuming Fictions: The Booker Prize and Fiction in Britain Today. London, England: Bloomsbury. [HA; esp. Chapter 2: "Literary Prizes and the Media." 55-94.]
• Huggan, Graham. 1997. "Prizing 'Otherness': A Short History of the Booker." Studies in the Novel 29.3 (Fall): 412-33.
• Huggan, Graham. 2001. The Postcolonial Exotic. Marketing the Margins. London. Routledge. [HA]
• English, James F. 2002. "Winning the Culture Game: Prizes, Awards, and the Rules of Art." New Literary History: A Journal of Theory and Interpretation 33.1 (Winter): 109-35.
• Squires, Claire. 2004. "A Common Ground? Book Prize Culture in Europe." Javnost: The Public 11.4: 37-47.
• English, James F. 2005. The Economy of Prestige: Prizes, Awards, and the Circulation of Cultural Value. Harvard. [HA; esp. Chapter 9: "The New Rhetoric of Prize Commentary." 197-216.
• Squires, Claire. 2007. Marketing Literature: The Making of Contemporary Writing in Britain. London: Palgrave Macmillian. [HA]

More Reading

• Attridge, Derek. "Against Allegory: Waiting for the Barbarians, Life & Times of Michael K, and the Question of Literary Reading." J.M. Coetzee and the Idea of the Public Intellectual. Ed. Jane Poyner. Athens, OH: Ohio UP, 2006. 63-82.

Tools

• Handout: Traditions in our discourse about literature
• Handout: Narratology

Reading Tips

Some thoughts to support your reading experience (cf. narratology handout):

• Literary studies routine questions: Who speaks? (narration), Who sees? (focalisation), Who is described by whom and how? (characterisation and character constellation)
• What kind of discussions are triggered in the novel? What are the main themes? Pay attention to plot construction, repeated terms and concepts, etc.
• Are there any intertextual allusions (explicit/implicit)? Do characters refer to any works of literature? Do they read? Are there any quotations or references? Is there an epigraph?
• When/where and under which circumstances was the novel first published? Pay attention to cover, blurb, endorsements, and any description of the material at hand: genre descriptions, allusions to other titles, to previous novels.
• What was your immediate reaction after/during your reading? Justified nomination for Man Booker Prize?
• How did others react? Reviews, blogs...

Links

• The Man Booker Prize Homepage