Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

An Introduction to the study of literature within the wider cultural field, with a focus on contemporary issues across genres and media. Students with credit for ENGL 105W may not take this course for further credit. Writing/Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

 Narratives of Encounter and Survival

In this writing-intensive course, we will read fiction (novels and graphic novels) and poetry from a diverse range of national and cultural perspectives. We will consider the relationship between word and image in texts, films, adaptations, and other formats that work at the intersection of the visual and the textual. A thematic focus of the course is on stories of resistance by survivors of genocide, displacement, and cultural suppression. We will read Art Spiegelman’s MAUS, a Holocaust survivor’s story in the form of a graphic novel; Marjane Satrapi’s Persepolis on the revolution in Iran; Chantal Gibson’s How She Read, on Black diasporic life in the wake of the Middle Passage; Ojibwe author Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse, a novel that confronts the legacies of residential schools and other forms of colonial dispossession in Canada, while also telling the stories of those who endured against the odds with humour, wit, and care; and a selection of stories from Vancouver Noir, a vivid portrait of Vancouver that challenges mainstream narratives (edited by SFU's 2023 writer in residence, Sam Wiebe). 

COURSE-LEVEL EDUCATIONAL GOALS:

• To develop your skills in reading, interpreting, and writing about literary texts.
• To learn how to read and interpret graphic novels that work at the interface of the visual and the textual.
• To read, discuss, and write about complex relationships between texts and contexts (historical, social, cultural, literary).

Grading

Materials

MATERIALS + SUPPLIES:

You must read all of the books (with the exception of Vancouver Noir, from which you will read a selection of stories - to be determined at the beginning of term). All the books have been ordered and should be available at the SFU Bookstore early in the term. You may also order them from your favourite local bookstore or online. You may use electronic copies of the books. A limited number of copies will be on reserve at the SFU library. Many if not all will be available through your local Public Library.

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: