ENG140Y: Literature for our Time
Instructor: Ann-Barbara Graff
Office: Room 291
Office Hours: MWF 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.
Class Meeting Times: MWF 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Final Essay Topics
Choose one topic from the following list:
1. Compare the figuration of the body in two of Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, Winterson's Written on the Body, Rushie's Midnight's Children and Grass's The Tin Drum.
2. Compare the representations/concepts of (female) sexuality in TWO of Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, Winterson's Written on the Body, Rushie's Midnight's Children, Larsen's Passing and Grass's The Tin Drum.
3. Compare the modes/subject of political critique in TWO of Coetzee's Waiting for the Barbarians, Winterson's Written on the Body, Rushie's Midnight's Children, Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Grass's The Tin Drum.
(a) Just one way of rephrasing the question: If The Tin Drum is the definitive modern novel, then Rushdie's Midnight's Children is its postmodern equivalent.
4. Show how either the comic tone or fabulist imagery in Rushdie's Midnight's Children qualifies the central (moral) issues in the novel.
5. Discuss the significance of the ambiguous narrator in Winterson's Written on the Body.
This assignment is worth 15 % of your total grade. The essay must not be more than 1500 words (6-7 pages, typed, double-spaced) and should be handed in on or before Monday March 26, 2001.
Penalties for lateness: Extensions should not be asked for and will not be granted EXCEPT in cases of serious emergencies, e.g., medical crisis. Late essay will be penalized 5% per day (including weekends and holidays).
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Posted 16 February 2001