Course Description
Summary
The immigrant novel often bears the burden of “building bridges” between cultures, portraying “the good immigrant” or “the tragic immigrant” as a helpless individual on a journey to assimilation in a new country. But, for over a century, alongside the stereotypical immigrant novels, there have been numerous irreverent immigrant novels that push back against oversimplification, exoticism, and cultural imperialism of the newcomer. This 4000-level course will explore how themes, tropes, techniques, and writing styles have changed in the last century and question what is next for this complex literary genre. Assigned readings will range from the early work of British-Dominican novelist Jean Rhys and Sudanese writer Tayeb Salih to recent novels by Pakistani novelist Moshin Hamid and Korean-French writer Elisa Shua Dusapin, in addition to a selection of critical essays by Chinua Achebe, Aimé Césaire, Frantz Fanon, Edward Said, and Sara Ahmed. Students will be expected to write one midterm paper, and will have the option of doing a critical final project or a creative final project with a critical component.
