LTEN 178/ETHN168: Comparative Ethnic Literature: Literary Responses to Collective Trauma (922634/9243610)
MWF 11:00-11:50 pm WLH 2115
Lisa Lampert-Weissig, Literature  Office: Literature 347 (third floor lit. bldg.)
llampert@ucsd.edu; course website at www.medievallit.org

Primary Readings:
Isaac Bashevis Singer, Enemies, a Love Story (1972) (Sonim, di Geshichte fun a Liebe,
 first published serially in The Forward/פֿאָרווערטס/Forverts), 1966)
Octavia Butler, Kindred (1979)
Toni Morrison, Beloved (1987)
August Wilson, The Piano Lesson (1990)
Art Spiegelman, Maus I and II (1991)
Louis Owens, Bone Game (1996)
Jonathan Safran Foer, Everything is Illuminated (2002)
lê thi diem thúy, The Gangster We are All Looking For (2003)

“Language can never 'pin down' slavery, genocide, war. Nor should it yearn for the arrogance to be able to do so. Its force, its felicity, is in its reach toward the ineffable”--
Toni Morrison

Schedule of Readings:  This is a tentative schedule.  Additional secondary readings may be added to enhance discussion as needed.

Week One:
Monday: Introduction         
Wed. and Friday: Readings by Morrison, Gordon and Hirsch. Study questions

Week Two: No class on Monday, MLK Jr. holiday
I.B. Singer: Enemies Study questions

Week Three: No class on Friday, Jan. 26.  Quiz on Maus in “take home” form. Study and quiz questions.
Art Spiegelman, Maus I and II

Week Four:
Art Spiegelman, Maus I and II
J.S. Foer, Everything is Illuminated

Week Five:
Octavia Butler, Kindred

Week Six: 
Toni Morrison, Beloved

Week Seven: No class Monday, President’s Day.
August Wilson, The Piano Lesson

Week Eight: 
Louis Owens, Bone Game

Week Nine:
lê thi diem thúy, The Gangster We are All Looking For (2003)

Week Ten: Spill over and Review