Prizing the Book
ENGL 231
Spring 2009
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01
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What is the relationship of the book to literary prizes? In a larger sense, how is our sense of literary value and meaning driven by prizes and their role in the publishing industry? We will look at four major prizes, the Nobel, the Man Booker, the National Book Award, and the Pulitzer, examining their histories and their choices. In each case, the histories will supplement an analysis of the most recent winners, including Doris Lessing, Orhan Pamuk, Kiran Desai, Denis Johnson, and Cormac McCarthy. |
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Essential Capabilities:
Intercultural Literacy
The prize-winning texts are written by both men and women, and come from various cultures, languages, and nations: South Africa, Turkey, England, Germany, India, among others. In order to appreciate and analyze them, it is necessary to understand their cultures to some extent. What makes them all "the best"? Implicitly, these prize-winning texts are all being compared to each other according to some standard that both insists upon a cultural specificity and proposes the possibility of transcending national and linguistic differences in the interest of a global literature.
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| Credit: 1 |
Gen Ed Area Dept:
None |
| Course Format: Lecture / Discussion | Grading Mode: Graded |
| Level: UGRD |
Prerequisites: None |
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Fulfills a Requirement for: None |
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Past Enrollment Probability: Not Available |
| SECTION 01 |
Major Readings: Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore
Doris Lessing, THE GRASS IS SINGING, THE GOOD TERRORIST
Orhan Pamuk, WHITE CASTLE
Harold Pinter, THE CARETAKER
Elfriede Jelinek, LUST
Anne Enright, THE GATHERING
Kiran Desai, THE INHERITANCE
Denis Johnson, TREE OF SMOKE
Cormac McCarthy, THE ROAD
selected articles
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Examinations and Assignments:
Response papers, two short (3-5 page) essays, longer, research-based final paper. |
| Instructor(s): Karamcheti,Indira Times: .M.W... 02:40PM-04:00PM; Location: DWNY113; |
| Total Enrollment Limit: 40 | | SR major: 5 | JR major: 5 | | |
| Seats Available: 0 | GRAD: 0 | SR non-major: 5 | JR non-major: 5 | SO: 10 | FR: 10 |
| Drop/Add Enrollment Requests | | | | | |
| Total Submitted Requests: 2 | 1st Ranked: 0 | 2nd Ranked: 0 | 3rd Ranked: 2 | 4th Ranked: 0 | Unranked: 0 |
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