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Academic Year 2001/2002


Toni Morrison
COL 287 FA

Crosslistings:
AFAM 279
WMST 287

Toni Morrison's lyrical style and vibrant imagination have made her one of the most engaging contemporary novelists. She is also one of the most thought-provoking, inviting her readers to join her in exploring the formation, deformation, and transformation of human subjects in the crucibles of race and ethnicity, sexuality and gender, caste and class. This seminar focuses on a close reading of Morrison's six published novels: THE BLUEST EYE, SULA, SONG OF SOLOMON, TAR BABY, BELOVED, and JAZZ. It will be supplemented and informed by essays and interviews of the author, by selective readings of significant predecessors, by historical documents and other contextualizing materials, and by consideration of relevant critical theories.

MAJOR READINGS

Toni Morrison, THE BLUEST EYE (novel), SULA (novel), SONG OF SOLOMON (novel), TAR BABY (novel), BELOVED (novel) JAZZ (novel) Toni Morrison, "Unspeakable Things Unspoken," PLAYING IN THE DARK, and THE NOBEL LECTURE IN LITERATURE, 1993 (lectures and essays) Danille Taylor-Guthrie, ed., CONVERSATIONS WITH TONI MORRISON (interviews) Harriet A. Jacobs, INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF A SLAVE GIRL, and other slave narratives: selections Middleton Harris, et al., eds., THE BLACK BOOK: selections Zora Nea le Hurston, Ralph Ellison, Angela Davis, Audre Lorde, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Hazel Carby, Kimberly Bentson: historical and theoretical essays Patricia Hill Collins, BLACK FEMINIST THOUGHT

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Thoughtful preparation, regular attendance and participation in class discussion, two interpretive essays and one final paper.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Lecture

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA COL    Grading Mode: Student Option   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2002


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