English 180: Topics in Canadian Literature:

21st Century Canadian literature

ENGS 180 Z, June 2-13th, 12:30 - 4:30 PM, M-F, LAFAYETTE L403

For a country of just 30 million people stretched over a vast territory and comprised of two major language groups, Canada has produced a remarkable number of world class writers, such as Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro, Michael Ondaatje, and Rohinton Mistry to name but a few. In the past two decades, in particular, Canadian literature has increasingly been seen by the world literary community as one of the hotbeds of new and innovative writing. In this course, we will focus on Canadian writing published in the last eight years to gain some perspective on the remarkable variety and quality of writing produced by our neighbors to the north. By focusing on novels and short fiction from writers spread across Canada, we will also examine questions of Canadian identity and the influence of the history of Canada on its present state.

One of the challenges and also the pleasures of studying contemporary literature is that there is little consensus among critics as to what will be considered some day to be the "Great Works" of our time. In fact, courses that focus on very recent work are a fairly new development in the history of literary studies; it is a privilege and an exciting challenge to study the literature written in our time but from another place. The study of literature will be one of the areas we will continue to discuss throughout the course. We will spend some time looking at how courses get constructed and how this connects to questions of the literary institution and the literary canon.

I realize that six books in less than ten days will seem daunting. We will spend roughly a day per book, so this will be an intense course. Please don't book too many other obligations into your "spare time" over those two weeks. You'll need every hour you can squeeze out for reading and preparation. The class will be small, so you'll need to come to class each day with the book read and being ready to talk about it. There will be lots of time for discussion each day. When you're reading these books, especially if you're reading ahead of time, make sure to take notes about what interested you in the book and about particular pages or scenes you'd like us to take a look at in class. The great news about the intense nature of this course is that it should also make for an intense and interesting learning experience. You'll be immersing yourself in the world of six really interesting novels in just under two weeks and will have completed an entire semester's worth of work during that short time.

Required Texts:

Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin (2000)

Joseph Boyden, Three Day Road (2005)

Dionne Brand, What We All Long For (2005)

Douglas Coupland, The Gum Thief (2007)

Lisa Moore, Alligator (2005)

Jacques Poulin, My Sister’s Blue Eyes (2007).

Also required: a course notebook or journal to bring with you to every class for freewriting assignments.

Assignments:

First essay: 25% (1500 words), due June 6
Term paper: 40% (2000 words) due June 16
Participation and attendance: 15%
Reading journal: 20%

Tentative Schedule:

BOOKS ARE TO BE READ IN THEIR ENTIRETY BY THE FIRST DAY WE START DISCUSSING THEM IN CLASS

June 2: Introduction to Canadian lit, Atwood's The Blind Assassin (HAVE THE BOOK READ BY TODAY)

June 3: The Blind Assassin

June 4: Boyden, Three Day Road

June 5: Poulin, My Sister's Blue Eyes

June 6: TBA (First short paper due)

June 9: Alligator

June 10: What We All Long For

June 11: The Gum Thief

June 12: TBA

June 13: Writing Day

Monday, June 16th: Term paper due

Participation and blog grades:

Here's the rubric for how I determine grades for your participation and for blog assignments (if applicable)

Participation

A: Nearly 100% attendance, unless due to illness or family emergency AND active participation in class. Clearly on top of the reading and regularly speaks in class. Always engaged in the discussion, whether vocally contributing or not.

B: Missed very few classes (2 or 3 max), unless due to illness or family emergency. Participated in class vocally on a fairly regular basis, but, more importantly, is always listening and attentive to the ongoing discussion. Unprepared for class occasionally, but usually caught up on the reading and willing to contribute.

C: Misses more than three classes for reasons other than illness or family emergency. Clearly behind in the reading on at least several occasions. Mostly attentive and speaks in class several times over the course of the semester. Makes a good effort to stay involved in class discussion and appears interested.

D: Regularly missing from class and/or frequently appears disinterested. Routinely behind on reading and fails to bring books to class. Leaves class from time to time to take phone calls thinking that the professor thinks they are using the bathroom, continually passes notes back and forth with someone else, works on other homework, reads the newspaper during class, checks e-mail or text messages while instructor or classmates are speaking, all of which, I should add, are apparent to the instructor and your classmates and immediately qualify you for a D.

F: Attendance and participation not worthy of a D or higher. Failure to attend most classes and/or to participate in any meaningful way.

Blogs

A: To earn an A on the blog component of the course all assignments must have been completed and comments posted by the assigned deadline. Comments are thoughtful, fully answer the question asked, and, if specified, take into account the comments of other students.

B: All assignments completed, mostly on time. Thoughtful comments, though perhaps briefer and less engaging than those that merit an A.

C: Most assignments completed, primarily at the end of the semester and/or comments are short, perfunctory answers to the blog prompt with little consideration of the comments of others.

D: Only partial completion of the assignments and comments show little commitment to making a contribution to the discussion.

F: Failure to complete more than 50% of the assigned blog questions.