Ethnic American Literatures: Post-1945 Fictions of Non-WASP Identities

3rd year American Studies, Autumn 2013

Dr. Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru, Associate Professor
Email: msdalexuk@yahoo.co.uk
This introductory course to post-1945 ethnic American writing will look at literary constructions of nonmainstream, hyphenated, diasporic and generally minority American identities and the question of
expressing difference through writing. We shall focus on certain important individual writers who have
become part of the mainstream even though they did not originally come from a WASP background. The
main focus will be on fiction and its retellings of group histories seen through the lens of individual
experience. The course will argue in favor of identity as a fluid category, corresponding to conditions that
are culturally constructed rather than written on the body. The theoretical approaches will focus on the
space of intersection between multiculturalism, postcolonialism and subaltern studies.
Course Requirements: Students must read all primary materials that are not marked with a * below,
most of which are in the electronic coursepack or in book format in the American Studies Room Library
(Room 4). Most short stories can be found in printed version in The Norton Anthology of American
Literature, vol. 2, fifth edition (Room 4). Materials marked with a * and secondary materials must be read
according to individual presentation- and essay-related research interests, but knowledge of all short
stories and of material on handouts and articles provided and/or emailed is compulsory. If you are
interested in books you cannot find let me know; please do not write essays without having read the
books or by downloading stuff from the Internet, as this is very easy to discover and plagiarism will not
be tolerated.
Assessment: Students will be graded on the basis of:
- class participation (20%)
- a 10-minute presentation on a specific topic of their choice (i.e. an idea demonstrated on the basis of
evidence from text a novel or two short-stories and secondary readings), with a handout (20%)
- a 6-page essay (2000 words) based on original text analysis (a novel or two shorter texts) and at least
three secondary sources. Personal initiative is encouraged, but generally discuss essay topics with me
(20%)
- a final written exam with three short questions from general course material and one text-based analysis
(40%)
PLAGIARISM AT ANY STAGE (IN PRESENTATIONS, HANDOUTS, ESSAYS OR IN THE FINAL
EXAM) WILL ENTAIL FAILURE OF THE RESPECTIVE COURSE COMPONENT AND WILL
LEAD TO THE STUDENTS INABILITY TO TAKE THE EXAM.
Course Planning:
1.2. (Fri, Oct. 18, 2013, room Cartianu) Introduction: Defining the Other in American Culture.
Approaches 1 (handout + film: A Thousand Years of Good Prayers)
Othering and Otherness; Orientalism; African American Writing; race as metaphorical. Handout with
excerpts from Frantz Fanon, W.E.B. DuBois, Henry Louis Gates Jr., Toni Morrison, bell hooks.
3. (Tue, Oct. 22, 2013, 16:00-18:00, Room 8) Living with Almost Americanness: Theoretical and
Fictional Approaches to Native American Literature (S. Momaday, G. Vizenor)

Gerald Vizenor. Almost Browne (Presentation: Mara Prva)

*Scott Momaday, from The Way to the Rainy Mountain
Blaeser, Kimberly M. Gerald Vizenor: Postindian Liberation. Joy Porter and Kenneth M. Roehmer
(eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Native American Literature. Cambridge UP, 2005. 257-270.
(Presentation: Ruxandra Barbu)
*Vizenor, Gerald. From The Trickster of Liberty. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1988. ixxviii, 43-59.
* From Tillett, Rebecca. Contemporary Native American Literature, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
Press, 2007, pp. 1-33 and 101-135.
4. (Tue, Oct. 29, 2013, 12:00-14:00, meeting outside Room 4 in Pitar Mos) Representations of Race in
Jewish American Writing (S. Bellow, P. Roth)
Saul Bellow, Looking for Mr Green (Norton 5th edition, vol 2, pp. 1901-1917) (Presentation:
Floriana Ion)
*Saul Bellow, Mr Sammlers Planet
*Philip Roth, The Human Stain
From Hilfer, Tony. American Fiction Since 1940. London and New York: Longman, 1992 (chapter on
Jewish American fiction).
*Glaser, Jennifer. The Jew in the Canon: Reading Race and Literary History in Philip Roths The Human
Stain. PMLA 123:5, October 2008. 1465-1478.
5. (Tue, Oct. 29, 2013, 16:00-18:00, room 8) Representations of Race in African American Writing
(R. Wright, J. Baldwin, R. Ellison)
Richard Wright, The Man Who Was Almost a Man (Norton 5 th edition, vol 2, pp. 1756-1766)
(Presentation: Anca Mihaescu)
*Richard Wright, *Native Son, *The Outsider
Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man (mainly excerpts in Norton 5th edition, vol 2, pp. 1883-1901)
(Presentation: Diana Lois)
*James Baldwin, Going to Meet the Man
Parrish, Tim. Invisible Ellison: The Fight to be a Negro Leader. Ros Posnock (ed.). The Cambridge
Companion to Ralph Ellison. Cambridge UP, 2005. 137-156.
*Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru, Identity Performance in Contemporary Non-WASP American Fiction,
Bucuresti: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2008 (chapter on Richard Wright).
6. (Tue, Nov. 5, 2013, 16:00-18:00, Room 8) Asian Diasporas: Chinese and Korean (M. HongKingston, Amy Tan, Chang-rae Lee)
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior (Presentation: Michael Artemis Roxana)
*Amy Tan, The Joy Luck Club (see also film)
Yiyun Li, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, from A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, NY:
Random House, 2005, 186-203 (see also film)
*Chang-Rae Lee, from Native Speaker* (Presentation: Negoi Ioana)
Huang, Guiyou, Asian American Literary Studies, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005 (pp. 114, 41-63, *109-131, *132-151).
*Buell, Frederick, National Culture and the New Global System, Baltimore and London: The Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1994, pp. 177-216 (The Construction of Asian American Literature).

7-8. (Fri, Nov. 8, 10:00-12:00, Room 5 and 14:00-16:00, Room 4) Chicana and Latino Fiction (G.
Anzaldua, D. Chavez, S. Cisneros, J. Alvarez, C. Henriquez)
*Gloria Anzaldua, *Borderlands/La Frontera (Room 4) (Presentations: Andreea Dinca, Florin
Mnzala)
Denise Chavez, The Last of the Menu Girls (Norton 5 th edition, vol 2, pp. 2355-2374)
Sandra Cisneros, My Lucy Friend Who Smells Like Corn, Mericans (Norton 5 th edition, vol
2, pp. 2374-2376, 2380-2382) (Presentation: Roxana Crisan)
* Julia Alvarez, Before We Were Free, New York: Knopf, 2002. (Presentation: Miruna Moculescu)
Cristina Henriquez, Carnival, Las Tablas (The New Yorker, July 3, 2006, pp. 64-71).
(Presentation: Roxana Videanu)
Allatson, Paul, Key Terms in Latino/a Cultural Studies, Malden, MA and Oxford: Blackwell, 2007.
9-10. (Tue, Nov. 12, 12:00-14:00, meeting outside Room 4 and 16:00-18:00, Room 8) When Gender
Meets Race: Womens Voices in Ehnic American Literatures (T. Morrison, A. Walker, L. Erdrich
Toni Morrison, Recitatif (Norton 5th edition, vol 2, pp. 2077-2092);
*Toni Morrison, *Jazz; *Song of Solomon, Love*; Playing in the Dark (Presentations: Deliana
Iacoban, Corina Lavric)
Alice Walker, Everyday Use (Norton 5 th edition, vol 2, pp. 2273-2280); *The Color Purple
(Room 4; see also film); *In Search of Our Mothers Gardens
Louise Erdrich, Fleur (Norton), Demolition, Gleason
McKenzie, Marilyn Mobley. Spaces for Readers: The Novels of Toni Morrison. Maryemma Graham
(ed.) The Cambridge Companion to African American Novel. Cambridge UP, 2004. 221-232.
Rainwater, Catherine. Louise Erdrichs Storied Universe. Joy Porter and Kenneth M. Roehmer (eds.).
The Cambridge Companion to Native American Literature. Cambridge UP, 2005. 271-282.
*King, Lovalerie. African American Womanism: From Zora Neale Hurston to Alice Walker.
Maryemma Graham (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to African American Novel. Cambridge UP, 2004.
233-252.
*Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru, Identity Performance in Contemporary Non-WASP American Fiction,
Bucuresti: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2008 (chapter on Toni Morrison).
*Rebecca Tillett, Contemporary Native American Literature, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press,
2007, pp. 67-100.
11-12. (Fri, Nov. 15, 10:00-12:00, Room 5 and 14:00-16:00, Room 4) South Asian Diaspora: The
Rediscovery of Storytelling in Decoding/Encoding New Americanness (S. Rushdie, B. Mukherjee, J.
Lahiri, V. Seth, C. B. Divakaruni)
Salman Rushdie, The Firebirds Nest, Fury, *The Ground Beneath Her Feet, Imaginary
Homelands
Jhumpa Lahiri, three stories from Interpreter of Maladies, *The Namesake; Once in a Lifetime
(The New Yorker, May 8, 2006, pp. 62-73); *Unaccustomed Earth
Bharati Mukherjee, Loose Ends, *Jasmine
Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, *The Mistress of Spices (see also film)
*Draga, Maria-Sabina, Conditia postmoderna: spre o estetica a identitatii culturale, Bucuresti: Editura
Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2003 (chapter on Salman Rushdie).
*Maria-Sabina Draga Alexandru, Identity Performance in Contemporary Non-WASP American Fiction,
Bucuresti: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2008 (chapter on Jhumpa Lahiri).
*Rudrappa, Sharmila, Ethnic Routes to Becoming American: Indian Immigrants and the Cultures of
Citizenship, New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2004.

13. (Tue, Nov. 19, 16:00-18:00, Room 8) Eastern European Diasporas: Romanian-American Writing
(A. Codrescu, D. Radulescu)
Ruxandra Cesereanu and Andrei Codrescu, Forgiven Submarine, Boston: Black Widow Press, 2009.
Domnica Radulescu. Train to Trieste. New York: Knopf, 2008.
Mirela Roznoveanu, Vetiver: Portalul scriitorilor romano-americani din New York,
http://vetiver.weblog.ro/
Draga Alexandru, Maria-Sabina si Teodora Serban-Oprescu (eds.). Cultura romneasca in perspectiva
transatlantica: Dialoguri romno-americane. Bucharest: Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti, 2009.
*Mihaila, Rodica and Roxana Oltean (eds.). Transatlantic Dialogues. Bucharest: Editura Universitatii din
Bucuresti, 2009.
14. (Tue, Jan 14, 2014, 16:00-18:00, room 8) Conclusion: American Identities, A Matter of
Performance. From Frederick Buell, Susan Castillo, Diana Taylor. Any remaining presentations
From Buell, Frederick. National Culture and the New Global System. Baltimore and London: The Johns
Hopkins University Press, 1994. 141-176 (Theorizing Ethnicity in America).
Taylor, Diana. Remapping Genre through Performance: From American to Hemispheric Studies.
PMLA 122: 5, October 2007. 1416-1430.
*From Castillo, Susan. Performing America: Colonial Encounters in New World Writing 1500-1786.
London and New York: Routledge, 2006. 1-19, 160-186.