98學年度第 1學期課程大綱/ Fall 2009 Course Description

授課教師/ Instructor: Guy Beauregard
課程名稱/ Course name: Fiction I
課號/ Course number: 102 24110
班次/ Section number: 03
學分數/ Credit hours: 3


課程概述 Course Description

This section of Fiction I introduces students to literary and cultural perspectives from the postcolonial world. In the first semester, we will investigate selected texts from Africa; in the second term, we will read and discuss selected texts from Asia. We will begin by examining the concept of decolonization—that is, the process of questioning colonialism and insisting, as Kwame Nkrumah wrote in 1945, on “the rights of all peoples to govern themselves.” We will then read and discuss fictional and other cultural texts that have come out of various decolonization struggles in Nigeria, Algeria, Kenya, and South Africa. We will ask ourselves: why should these texts and ideas matter to us today?

Students are expected to attend regularly, to read with care and curiosity, and to bring an open mind to course assignments and class discussions. We will reflect on our previously held commonsense ideas and test them against our course readings.


課程目標 Course Objectives

As noted above.


課程要求 Requirements

As noted below.


參考書目（教科書）Textbook and References

Please note that all texts will be available as part of a photocopied course package, except South Africa’s Human Spirit, which are CDs that we will listen to and discuss in class.

∙ “Decolonization” (from the Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies, 2001)
∙ Wole Soyinka, Aké: The Years of Childhood (1981)
∙ Assia Djebar, Children of the New World: A Novel of the Algerian War (1962; English translation 2005)
∙ M.G. Vassanji, The In-Between World of Vikram Lall (2003)
∙ J.M. Coetzee, Foe (1986)
∙ South Africa’s Human Spirit: An Oral Memoir of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2000) (CDs; full transcripts available at: www.sabctruth.co.za)


評量方式 Grading

Attendance and participation 10%
Group presentation 20%
In-class writing exercise 20%
Mid-term exam 25%
Final exam 25%

Total 100%

Please note that these assignments may change depending on the needs and interests of students. Full details about these assignments will be discussed in the first week of classes.


進度 Syllabus

Week 1: September 15: Introduction to course objectives
Week 2: September 22: What is “decolonization”?
Week 3: September 29: In-class writing exercise
Week 4: October 6: Soyinka (pages 22-35)
Week 5: October 13: Soyinka (page 36-50)
Week 6: October 20: Djebar (pages 1-16)
∙ Presentations: What do we need to know about the war of independence in Algeria?
Week 7: October 27: Djebar (pages 17-43)
Week 8: November 3: Vassanji (pages 5-27)
∙ Presentations: What do we need to know about the Mau Mau in Kenya?
Week 9: November 10: Vassanji (pages 28-57)
Week 10: November 17: Mid-term exam
Week 11: November 24: Coetzee (pages 5-24 [bottom])
∙ Presentations: What do we need to know about apartheid in South Africa?
Week 12: December 1: Coetzee (pages 24 [bottom]-45)
Week 13: December 8: South Africa’s Human Spirit (CDs)
∙ Presentations: What do we need to know about the TRC (the Truth and Reconciliation Commission) in South Africa?
Week 14: December 15: Senior play (no class)
Week 15: December 22: South Africa’s Human Spirit (CDs)
Week 16: December 29: Review
Week 17: January 5: Final exam

Please note that this schedule is subject to change as the instructor fine-tunes the syllabus.