English 159 - Winter, 2023

Topics in the Novel

Topic: TO BE ANNOUNCED

Class Information

Instructor: Naffis-Sahely, Andre
CRN: 44727
Time: TR 12:10-1:30
Location: 1342 Storer
GE Areas: Writing Experience

Description

The partition of British India in 1947, which divided the former colony into the two independent nations of India and Pakistan was one of the largest refugee crises of modern times, and one that continues to haunt the Subcontinent's psyche and shape social relations in both countries. This class will analyze Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children, the novel that established the controversial author as one of the preeminent South Asian Anglophone writers. We will chart the development of the Partition novel from the mid-1950s to the late 1980s, and cover topics including freedom of speech, modern Indian politics, and the literary style known as magic realism, including the influence of Gunther Grass's The Tin Drum on Rushdie's work, supplementing our reading with short stories by other chronicles of Partition including Anita Desai, Saadat Hasan Manto, and Mulk Raj Anand.

Texts

Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie