Courses:

Race and Identity in American Literature: Keepin' it Real Fake >> Content Detail



Study Materials



Readings

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Required Texts


Amazon logo Twain, Mark. Pudd'nhead Wilson [1894]. New York, NY: Bantam Classics, 1984. ISBN: 9780553211580. The e-text is available from Project Gutenberg.

Amazon logo Chesnut, Charles. The Marrow of Tradition [1901]. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 1993. ISBN: 9780140186864. The e-text is available from Project Gutenberg.

Amazon logo Johnson, James Weldon. Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man [1912]. New York, NY: Vintage, 1989. ISBN: 9780679727538. The e-text is available from Project Gutenberg.

Amazon logo Larsen, Nella. Passing [1929]. New York, NY: Penguin Classics, 2003. ISBN: 9780142437278.

Amazon logo Schuyler, George. Black No More [1931]. New York, NY: Modern Library, 1999. ISBN: 9780375753800.

Amazon logo Griffin, John Howard. Black Like Me [1961]. New York, NY: NAL Trade, 2003. ISBN: 9780451208644.

Amazon logo Jones, LeRoi. (Baraka, Amiri.) "Dutchman" [1964]. In Dutchman and The Slave: Two Plays. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 1971. ISBN: 9780688210847.

Amazon logo Parks, Suzan-Lori. "The America Play" [1994]. In The America Play and Other Works. New York, NY: Theatre Communications Groups, 1995. ISBN: 9781559360920.

Amazon logo Derricotte, Toi. The Black Notebooks [1997]. New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 1999. ISBN: 9780393319019.

Amazon logo Roth, Philip. The Human Stain [2000]. New York, NY: Vintage, 2001. ISBN: 9780375726347.



Readings by Session



SES #TOPICSREADINGS
1

Introductions

In-class TV clip: "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong"

Chapelle, Dave. "When Keeping it Real Goes Wrong." In Episode 20 of Chapelle's Show, 2004.
2Herman MelvilleAmazon logo Melville, Herman. "Benito Cereno." [1856] In The Piazza Tales and other Prose Pieces, 1839-1860. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1987. ISBN: 9780810105515. The e-text is available from Project Gutenberg.
3Mark TwainPudd'nhead Wilson, chapters 1-12.
4Pudd'nhead Wilson, chapters 13-end.
5Suzan-Lori ParksThe American Play, read all.
6Charles ChesnuttThe Marrow of Tradition, chapters 1-16.
7The Marrow of Tradition, chapters 17-end.
8

Interracial identity

In-class film: Cross-Over King

Cross-Over King. Directed by John Leguizamo.

Sollors. "Passing; or, Sacrificing a Parvenu."

9

Toni Morrison

In-class film: Mr. White

Amazon logo Morrison, Toni. "Recitatif." In Women and Race in Contemporary U.S. Writing: From Faulkner to Morrison. New York, NY: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007. ISBN: 9781403972385.
10James Weldon JohnsonAutobiography of an Ex-Colured Man, chapters 1-7.
11Autobiography of an Ex-Colured Man, chapters 8-end.
12Nella Larsen

Passing, read all.

Amazon logo Goffman, Erving. Presentation of Self in Everyday Life. New York, NY: Anchor, 1959. ISBN: 9780385094023.

13Being Indian

Amazon logo Deloria. Playing Indian. New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press, 1999. ISBN: 9780300080674.

Amazon logo Riley. "Adventures of an Indian princess." In Native American Literature: An Anthology. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Publishing Group, 1998. ISBN: 9780844259857.

14Philip RothThe Human Stain, chapters 1-3.
15The Human Stain, chapters 4-5.
16John Howard GriffinBlack Like Me, pp. 1-101 or 10/28-11/21.
17Black Like Me, pp. 102-end or 11/24-8/17.
18

Gender

In-class film: Paris is Burning

Paris is Burning. Directed by Jennie Livingston, 1990.

Amazon logo Butler, Judith P. "Gender is Burning: Questions of Appropriation and Subversion." In Bodies That Matter: On the Discursive Limits of Sex. New York, NY: Routledge, 1993. ISBN: 9780415903660.

19

LeRoi Jones

Whiteness

Dutchman.

Amazon logo Lipsitz, George. The Possessive Investment in Whiteness: How White People Profit from Identity Politics. Revised and expanded ed. Philadelphia, PA: Temple University Press, 2006. ISBN: 9781592134946.

Amazon logo Hooks, Bell. "Representing whiteness: Seeing wings of desire." In Yearning: Race, Gender, and Cultural Politics. Boston, MA: South End Press, 1990. ISBN: 9780896083851.

20Library instruction(no readings)
21Toi DerricotteThe Black Notebooks, Introduction to "Blacks in the U."
22The Black Notebooks, "Among School" to the end.
23George SchuylerBlack No More, chapters 1-6.
24Black No More, chapters 7-end.
25In-class film: Six Degrees of Separation Six Degrees of Separation. Directed by Fred Schepisi, 1993.
26Student presentations(no readings)

 








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