WINTER 2000
This information effective for Winter 2000.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.
WINTER 2000
This information effective for Winter 2000.
Check with instructor the first day of class for any changes.
Kirsten Silva Gruesz
http://www2.ucsc.edu/people/ksgruesz
This graduate seminar has two aims: first, to provide a historical grounding for Chicano/Latino writing in the United States, which is generally considered a product of the later twentieth century; second, to critique the process of literary canon formation from the perspective of communities that have traditionally been marginalized by that process because of their language, their specific forms of cultural literacy, or their racial, ethnic, and regional affiliations. Early Latino literature serves, then, as the test case for a number of broader theoretical questions that could apply with equal significance to the work of African-American, American Indian, Asian-American, Jewish, and other ethnic communities. Thus, the course is designed not only for students planning to specialize in Chicano/Latino literature, but for those who are interested in any branch of contemporary ethnic writing and the challenges it poses to U.S. literary history in general.
Theoretical topics around which sessions will be organized: the literary canon and cultural capital; the orality-literacy continuum, performance culture, and the hierarchy of genres; literature and the distribution of social power; periodical culture and the history of the book; non-English languages and bilingual expression in the U.S.
A reader containing theoretical/historical essays related to the above concerns, plus photocopies of uncollected or out-of-print primary source materials, including poems, corridos, and plays; and 5-6 published novels and memoirs to be selected from among the following:
1. Felix Varela, Jicotencal
2. (anthology), El laúd del desterrado
3. Maria Amparo Ruiz de Burton, Who Would Have Thought It?
4. Jovita Gonzalez, Dew on the Thorn/ Caballero
5. Daniel Venegas, The Adventures of Don Chipote
6. Leonor Villegas de Magnón, The Rebel
7. Maria Cristina Mena, collected stories
8. Jesús Colón, The Way It Was
Given that much of the Latino writing from this period is in Spanish, a reading knowledge of Spanish will be highly useful. However, so as not to discourage interested and motivated students from taking the class, I will prepare either translations or alternative readings to the Spanish materials in line with student interest.
Students will be expected to participate fully in class and to prepare discussion questions before each session. Near the beginning of the term, each student will outline a research project related to the concerns of the course, which will result in an end-of-term report of 15-20 pages consisting of some combination of the following: descriptions of archival research work (projected or completed); an annotated bibliography of primary and secondary sources; a review of relevant theoretical materials; and critical readings of one or more literary texts. The expectation is that this report will sketch out a larger project that might later be refined and expanded in an independent study or dissertation.
Enrollment limited to 15. Undergraduates MUST have special permission from the instructor to enroll.
Further information on the course and a final syllabus will be posted in December on the professor's website: www2.ucsc.edu/people/ksgruesz.