Since
its inception, the novel has maintained
a close relationship with nation.
A cohesive time-space can be identified
where the narrator's point of view
and that of an implied reader coincide
with the interests of an identifiable
country or region. But after globalization,
diaspora, aberrations such as the
'war on terror', the infinitudes
of cyberspace, and world-weaving
flows of multi-national capitalism,
how strong is the idea of the nation
in the public imagination? To what
extent is the idea of national belonging
weakened, and what kind of transnational
affinities are being engendered?
Where are the power lines of this
transnationalism? Should we be worried
about losing the protection of the
nation state? What new possibilities
arise for cultural production?
This course explores some of these
questions through fictions that
emphasise the transnational, moving
beyond socio-geographical boundaries
of nation. Although 'Postcolonial
Fictions' and 'World Literatures'
have already offered transnational
and hybrid imagining (e.g. Rushdie
and South American magic realism),
some argue that stories of diaspora
and migration target a metropolitan
audience's desire for exotic fantasy,
and reinforce a sense of localised
belonging.
While we will consider how postcolonial,
postmodern and world literatures
might give rise to global fictions,
we will also see if there is evidence
of a newly emerging cultural form.
One of the common starting points
for such an investigation is the
'hyperlink cinema' of Inarritu's Babel, in which the apparent
temporal simultaneity of its three
narrative strands is never resolved.
Can such dissolution and disjunction
be used to define the features of
a new global fiction, or is it no
more than stylistic innovation?
Moving to the novel, David Mitchell's Ghostwritten connects nine
first-person narratives set across
Asia, Russia and London, through
a disembodied voice; in Rana Dasgupta's Tokyo Cancelled, thirteen
story-tellers entertain each other
with fantastic tales which off in
many directions while the tellers
and listeners are confined in the
archetypal 'non-place' of globality
- the airport transit lounge. Again
the connections are tenuous, and
unlike in conventional storytelling,
thematic and stylistic unity cannot
here put humpty dumpty together
again.
Syllabus
and reading
1.
Primary texts.
1. Babel (dir. Alexandro
Gonzales Inarritu)
2. David Mitchell, Ghostwritten
3. Rana Dasgupta, Tokyo Cancelled
4. Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland & the End of the World
5. Jeanette Winterson, The Stone Gods
2.
Suggested Reading.
Annesley, James, Fictions of
Globalization
Gupta, Suman, Globalisation and
Literature
Li, Leiwei David, Globalisation
and the Humanities
Moses, Michael Valdy, The Novel
and the Globalization of Culture
Connell & Marsh, Literature & Globalization: A Reader
You might also want to read other
novels that frequently come up in
discussion of global fictions, such
as Don Delillo's Cosmopolis and Arundhati Roy's The God of
Small Things.
Assessment
100% coursework
[25%] Participation in class discussion and reflection (200 word response on each novel - so 4 responses in all)
[35%] Book review of one of the novels (800 words) - deadline 12 March
[45%] Term Essay [1500-2000] words - deadlne 16 April
Teaching
and Learning Schedule
Classes
for the course will take place on
Mondays 6:30 - 8:30; Room MB 151
Provisional
schedule:
16 January
Introduction: what is global fiction?
23 January
No class - Lunar New Year
30 January
Babel [HH]
6 February
David Mitchell, Ghostwritten [HH]
13 February
David Mitchell, Ghostwritten [HH]
20 February
Rana Dasgupta, Tokyo Cancelled [HH]
27 February
Rana Dasgupta, Tokyo Cancelled [HH]
5 March - reading week
12 March
Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World [HH]
19 March
Haruki Murakami, Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World [HH]
26 March
Jeanette Winterson, The Stone Gods [HH]
28 March
Jeanette Winterson, The Stone Gods [HH] [note that this is a WEDS class]
