Unearthing: Links and Calendar

Spring 2006

195:395:01

Jorge Marcone

 

Last modified: 03/05/06

Syllabus (first-day version)

Unearthing: Interconnectedness with the Earth in Recent World Literature and Film.

Literary texts

  1. Pablo Neruda (1904-73). Chile. Poetry. 1971 Laureate.

·        “Towards the Splendid City” (Nobel Lecture). http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1971/neruda-lecture-e.html

·        Selection from Late and Posthumous Poems, 1968-1974 (1988).

  1. Octavio Paz (1914-98). Mexico. Poetry. 1990 Laureate.

 

·         “In Search of the Present” (Nobel Lecture). http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1990/paz-lecture-e.html

·        Selection from The Tree Within (1988).

  1. Seamus Heaney (1939-). Ireland. Poetry. 1995 Laureate.

·        “Crediting Poetry” (Nobel Lecture). http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1995/heaney-lecture.html

·        Selection from Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996 (1998).

·        Essays from Finders Keepers: Selected Prose, 1971-2001 (2002). Selection 1, and selection 2.

  1. Wislawa Szymborska (1923-). Poland. Poetry. 1996 Laureate.

 

·        “The Poet and the World” (Nobel Lecture).  http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/1996/szymborska-lecture.html

·        Selection from Poems: New and Collected, 1957-97 (1998).

  1. Gao Xingjian (1940-). China/France. Fiction. 2000 Laureate. 

·        “The Case for Literature” (Nobel Lecture). http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2000/gao-lecture-e.html

·        Soul Mountain (1989).

  1. V. S. Naipual (1932-)). Trinidad/United Kingdom. Fiction. 2001 Laureate. 

·        “Two Worlds” (Nobel Lecture). http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2001/naipaul-lecture-e.html

·        A Way in the World (1994).

  1. John Maxwell Coetzee (1940-). South Africa. Fiction. 2003 Laureate.

·        “He and his man.” (Nobel Lecture). http://nobelprize.org/literature/laureates/2003/coetzee-lecture-e.html

·        The Lives of Animals (1999).

 

Secondary sources

  1. Abram, David. “Philosophy on the Way to Ecology.” Chapter 2.  The Spell of the Sensous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World. New York: Vintage, 1997. 31-72.
  2. Buell, Lawrence. “The Place of Place.” Chapter 2. Writing for an Endangered World: Literature, Culture, and Environment in the U.S. and Beyond. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Harvard UP, 2001. 55-83.
  3. Latour, Bruno. “Why Political Ecology Has to Let Go Nature.” Chapter 1. Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 2004. 9-52.
  4. Maathai, Wangari. 2004 Peace Laureate. Nobel Lecture, Oslo, December 10, 2004. http:/nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/2004/maathai-lecture-text.html
  5. Todorov, Tzvetan. “The Interplay of Four Families.” Chapter 1. Imperfect Garden: The Legacy of Humanism. Princeton: Princeton UP, 2002. 9-46.
  6. Wolfe, Cary. “Old Orders for New: Ecology, Animal Rights, and the Poverty of Humanism.” Chapter 1. Animal Rites: American Culture, the Discourse of Species, and Posthumanist Theory. Chicago: U of Chicago P, 2003. 21-43. 

 Calendar

 

Class #

Date

In-class activities

Reading assignments

 

1

Tues Jan 17

Introduction

Maathai. Nobel lecture.

 

 

2

Thur Jan 19

Comprehension and discussion on Neruda’s and Paz’s Nobel Lectures.

Neruda. “Towards the Splendid City.”

Paz. “In Search of the Present.”

3

Tues Jan 24

Interpretation Neruda’s poetry.

Neruda. Poems from the Late and Posthumous Poems.

 

4

Thur Jan 26

Abram: reading comprehension, and discussion.

Interpretation Neruda’s poetry.

Neruda. Poems from the Late and Posthumous Poems.

Abram. “Philosophy on the Way…”

5

Tues Jan 31

Interpretation Paz’ poetry.

Baraka. (part 1)

Paz. Poems from A Tree Within. (poems 1-7)

6

Thur Feb 2

Baraka. (part 2)

Instructions for first paper.

Paz. Poems from A Tree Within. (poems 7-14)

 

7

 Tues Feb 7

Latour

Follow-up on Baraka.

Interpretation Paz’s poetry.

Latour. “Why Political Ecology…”

 

 

8

Thur Feb 9

Discussion chaps. 1-14.

Gao. Soul Mountain. Chaps. 1-14.

 

9

Tues Feb 14

Short paper # 1.

Discussion chaps. 15-30.

Gao. Chaps. 15-30.

 

10

Thur Feb 16

Discussion chaps. 31-44.

Gao. Chaps. 31-44.

 

11

Tues Feb 21

Class canceled.

Gao. Chaps. 45-56.

 

12

Thur Feb 23

Discussion chaps. 45-56

Gao. Chaps. 57-66.

 

13

Tues Feb 28

Dersu Uzala. (part 1)

Discussion chaps. 57-66.

 

Gao. Chaps. 67-80.

14

Thur Mar 2

Dersu Uzala. (part 2)

Discussion chaps. 67-80.

 

 

15

Tues Mar 7

Dersu Uzala. (part 3)

Wrap-up Gao and Dersu Uzala.

 

 

16

Thur Mar 9

Interpretation Heaney’s poetry.

Chris Greco: “Crediting Poetry” and “The Otter” and “The Skunk.”

Michele Messina: Heaney’s essay and poetry (other than the two above).

 

Heaney. “Crediting Poetry.”

Heaney. Selection from Opened Ground (“Digging,” “The Diviner,” “Bogland,” “The Otter,” and “The Skunk”), and Finders Keepers (Selection 1: “from Feeling into Words).

 

 

Tues Mar 14

Spring break

 

 

Thur Mar 16

Spring break

 

17

Tues Mar 21

 

The Field (part 1)

Liz Schmidt: Heaney’s essay and poetry.

Selection from Opened Ground (“Terminus,” “The Other Side,” “Seeing Things,” “Field of Vision,” and “Postscript”), and Finders Keepers (Selection 2: “Something to Write Home About.”)

 

18

Thur Mar 23

The Field (part 2)

Discussion of chaps. 1-3.

 

Naipaul. Chaps. 1-3.

 

19

Tues Mar 28

Nowhere in Africa. (part 1)

Discussion of chaps. 4-6.

Naipaul. Chaps. 4-6.

 

 

20

Thur Mar 30

Nowhere in Africa. (part 2)

Discussion of chaps. 6 and 7.

Naipaul. Chaps. 7-8 (first half).

 

21

Tues Apr 4

Discussion of chaps. 8 and 9.

Naipaul. Chaps. 8-9.

22

Thur Apr 6

No classes. (SOLCHA).

Short paper # 2.

 

 

23

Tues Apr 11

Todorov and Szymborska: reading comprehension and discussion.

Ian Khadan (presentation)

Amelia Shealaynosun.(presentation).

Todorov. “The Interplay of Four Families.”

Szymborska. “The Poet and the World.”

 

24

Thur Apr 13

Interpretation Szymborska’s poetry.

Nicola Morina (presentation).

Szymborska. Selection from Poems: New and Collected, 1957-97

 

25

Tues Apr 18

Interpretation Szymborska’s poetry.

Szymborska. Selection from Poems: New and Collected, 1957-97

 

26

Thur Apr 20

Grizzly Man.(part 1)

Wolfe and Coetzee: reading comprehension and discussion.

Wolfe. “Old Orders for New.”

Coetzee. “He and his man.”

 

27

Tues Apr 25

Discussion on “The Philosophers and the Animals.”

Grizzly Man.(part 2)

Susan Murphy (presentation)

 

Coetzee. The Lives of Animals. “The Philosophers and the Animals.”

 

28

Thur Apr 27

Discussion on “The Poets and the Animals.”

Coetzee. “The Poets and the Animals.”

 

 

Wed May 10

Final Paper

 

 

 

 Created by Jorge Marcone, jtmarcone@yahoo.com
January, 14th, 2004.