318 W19 Siemerling

318

Contemporary Canadian Literature

ENGL 318 Winter 2019,  Prof. Winfried Siemerling

TUES and THURS 2:30  3:50, PAS 2086—

Office Hours: Tues and Thues 4-5; HH 222

 Course Outline

 Course Website: http://artsonline.uwaterloo.ca/~wsiemerl/

 (CR) = Course Reserves

Week/ Date:        Topic/ Texts:                     

• Jan 8 Introduction
• Jan 10 Towards the 1980s: The Massey Report, Anti-Colonial Cultural Nationalism,Multiculturalism:
  • From the Massey Report
  • Northrop Frye, from “Conclusion to a Literary History of Canada” (1965) RR/DS (2+2 max):
  • Margaret Atwood, from The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970) and from Survival (1972)
  • Dennis Lee, from “Cadence, Country, Silence: Writing in Colonial Space” (1973) RR/DS (2+2 max):From The Multiculturalism Act
• Jan 15 Robert Kroetsch, “Stone Hammer Poem” (1975), “On Being an Alberta Writer” (1983), “Disunity as Unity” (1989) 

RR/DS:

• Jan 17 Tomson Highway, The Rez Sisters (1988)

RR/DS:

• Jan 22 Dionne Brand, “Photograph” (1988), From Ink Lake RR/DS:
• Jan 24  Rohinton Mistry, “Condolence Visit” (1987), From Ink Lake RR/DS:
• Jan29   Alice Munro, “Miles City, Montana” (1986)RR/DS:
• Jan31   Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion (1987) RR/DS:
• Feb 5  Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion (1987)
• Feb 7 Course Review
• Feb 12    QUIZ TEST

• Feb 14 David Fennario, Balconville (1980) RR/DS:

MID-TERM STUDY BREAK (Feb 19-22)

• Feb 26 Jacques Poulin, Volkswagen Blues (1984) RR/DS:
• Feb 28    Jacques Poulin, Volkswagen Blues (1984)
• Mar 5  Thomas King, “Godzilla vs Postcolonial,” “A Coyote Columbus Story,” (1992/93), One Good Story, That One RR/DS:
• Mar 7  Lorena Gale, Angélique (1998)) RR/DS:
• Mar 12   Lorena Gale, Angélique (1998)
• Mar 14 Esi Edugyan, Dreaming of Elsewhere (2014) RR/DS:
• Mar 19   David Chariandy, Brother (2018) RR/DS:
• Mar 21   David Chariandy, Brother (2018)
• Mar 26 Madeleine Thien, “Simple Recipes” (2001) RR/DS:
• Mar 28  Projects
• Apr 2    Projects
• Apr 4    Final Discussion

April 14 - Final Essay Deadline

1. By midnight, LEARN Dropbox
2. Please submit an exactly identical paper copy to the English Department dropbox (on the second floor in Hagey Hall) the latest by 3 p.m. the next day Monday, April 15.

Acknowledgment

I would like to acknowledge that we are on the traditional territory of the Attawandaron (Neutral), Anishnaabeg, and Haudenosaunee peoples. The University of Waterloo is situated on the Haldimand Tract, land promised and given to Six Nations, which includes six miles on each side of the Grand River.

1. Content and Goal of the Course

This course offers an introduction to Canadian Literature from the 1980s to the present. In this period, concerns with the emergence of Canadian national culture give way to other priorities. A number of specific cultures within Canada come to the fore in literature, including aboriginal and diasporic perspectives. The aim of this course is to familiarize ourselves with a number of relevant texts, with reference to questions of cultural memory, conveyance, witnessing, and the articulation of identities that relate to specific experiences of the past. In addition to reading all the assigned texts and participating actively in class, you are expected to prepare one short reading report for one of the classes (and present some of its content if requested), write one discussion summary after a class, participate in a mid-term quiz test, and write a final paper discussing one or several of the texts under study with reference to a theoretical problematic.

2. Texts

Required Texts (in sequence of class discussion):

• Tomson Highway, The Rez Sisters (Fifth House)
• Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion (Vintage Canada)
• David Fennario, Balconville (Talonbooks)
• Lorena Gale, Angélique (Playwrights Canada)
• Jacques Poulin, Volkswagen Blues (trans. Sheila Fischman, Cormorant)
• Esi Edugyan, Dreaming of Elsewhere (U Alberta P)
• David Chariandy Brother (McClelland & Stewart)

Optional Background Texts kept on Course Reserve at Porter Library:

• Terry Eagleton, Literary Theory (CR)
• Moss, Laura, and Cynthia Sugars, Canadian Literature in English: Texts and Contexts, Vol. II (CR)

Evaluation and Late Penalties:

The penalty for late assignments is 2% for each day (including weekends and holidays).

In case of illness, please obtain a “University of Waterloo Verification of Illness” form from Health Services or at http://uwaterloo.ca/health-services/student-medical-clinic/services/verification-illness. The website states: “The student must attend University of Waterloo Health Services or the family physician during the illness so as to receive appropriate medical care and an accurate diagnosis. The University of Waterloo Verification of Illness form must be completed by the physician during the student's medical appointment.”