English 10AC Syllabus - R. Wallace Fall 2005
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[edit] Overview
[edit] Introduction
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ENGL 10AC: Introduction to Literary Study : Music, Writing, and Race in the Americas
Fall 2005 MW 11:00 AM - 12:40 PM GIRV 1115
Instructor: Rob Wallace
Official Office: 3432B (in South Hall, Graduate Tower)
ACTUAL OFFICE: American Cultures and Global Contexts Center (SH 2710)
Office Hours: Monday, 2:30-4:30; and by appointment (feel free to stop by-- you don’t need a specific reason!)
E-mail: rwallace@umail.ucsb.edu (I check my email at least once every day, and will usually respond to you within 24 hours. Unless I tell you otherwise, I DO NOT accept major written assignments via email)
Course Website: tba
[edit] Course Description
Drawing on this year's American Cultures and Global Contexts Center (ACGCC) theme of race, this course will provide an introduction to the study of literature from the standpoint of how race and music have been dealt with--redefined, shaped, etc.-- in a variety of texts. Focusing primarily on Modernist writing influenced by African/African-American music, we will also investigate the way oral and musical cultures influence later 20th century and early 21st writing. Texts will include (among others) Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man, James Baldwin's Sonny's Blues, poetry and short fiction by Ann Petry, Nicolas Guillen, Langston Hughes, Wallace Stevens, Ezra Pound, E.K. Braithwaite, Dick Hebdige's historical survey of Caribbean music Cut n' Mix, as well as a selection of essays and critical pieces surrounding race, writing, and music. We will also watch films/documentaries, and listen to music; particularly collaborations between musicians and writers, including the Langston Hughes/Charles Mingus/Leonard Feather album The Weary Blues.
This course may or may not greet you at the beginning of your college career as an English Major/Minor. (Ideally you’re supposed to take it before you take other English classes). In terms of the goals of the English Department here at UCSB, then, this is supposed to be the class that introduces you to what it is we English literature scholars do and think and argue about. There is no set curriculum for this class, however, and most teachers do some variation of what they’re personally interested in or a broad survey of literature; or both. This section of English 10 is also cued to link up with the current ACGCC theme of critical race studies. Based on these loose criteria then, my version of English 10 will proceed with two main goals in mind: 1.)I wanna get you all thinking about what “literature” is, what we get from it, what we do with it, what authors do with it, etc. Why and how should we read stuff called “literature”? And is there a reason(s) to read and talk and write about “literature” beyond the college classroom?
2.)All of the above questions actually APPLIED and tested out on some stuff that I (and hopefully you) like. Additionally, as a writer and drummer, I hang out a lot in the worlds of both music and writing. I’ve found that these two worlds are connected on some deep levels that can be usefully illuminated by talking about them both (that is, the two worlds of music and lit.). In America in particular, any discussion of race usually involves a discussion of music, too-- especially if we’re talking about the relationship between the African diaspora and America. How have race and music inflected discourse in the Americas? I also think it will be helpful and hopefully hipper to check out literature in relation to music, because it seems like lately people don’t read much (myself included)-- and hence it’s HARD to talk/write/argue/etc. about writing. So we’re gonna shake things up a bit in this class while trying not to get too far away from the “Introduction to Literature” part of the class-- but I also foresee us getting to more interesting, and perhaps frustrating and confusing, but ultimately more rewarding places by putting our focus on these two forms of expression. But don’t worry: you don’t need any previous experience with music (or literature, for that matter) to get a lot out of this course.
By the end of the course you should be able to talk and write about literature (and music), and poetry in particular, in ways that elucidate and open up the literature which you might not have been accustomed to when you arrived here! The skills of interpretation and just plain appreciation you learn in this course should be applicable for English majors and non-majors alike.
[edit] Course Texts
I will be supplementing the following texts with handouts, movies, etc.
- Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison.
- Cut n’ Mix by Dick Hebdige
- The Weary Blues (cd) music by Leonard Feather and Charles Mingus; poetry by Langston Hughes
(the above texts are all available at the UCSB bookstore and the IV bookstore-- NOTE: Cut n’ Mix may be slightly harder to obtain-- I am trying to get the UCSB bookstore to make copies of it as it is out of stock according to their distributor (even though the IV bookstore had copies). HOWEVER I have looked on Amazon.com and they claim to have copies available. Order it IMMEDIATELY if you haven’t already purchased a copy.)
- A Course Reader, featuring material compiled by me, which you can purchase through Associated Students-- their office is just around the corner from the Multicultural Center.
- A selection of audio examples: writers reading their work, plus music, music, music! This will be available in the American Cultures and Global Contexts Center, room SH 2710 (see below). You will be REQUIRED to do weekly listening. Fun, but also concentrated listening.
[edit] Course Requirements
--ATTENDANCE: This is REQUIRED. Don’t be absent. More than one unexcused absence will result in cruel punishment and will hurt your grade. I realize that things come up, life is hard, blah blah blah but try to be there every time. The quarter system makes class time very important since we don’t have much of it. More than 2 unexcused absences will jeopardize your passing the course.
An EXCUSED absence is when you miss class due to a DOCUMENTABLE occurrence (i.e.--doctor’s appt., jury duty, sporting event that you’re competing in [not because you have tickets to the World Series!]). This DOES NOT include stuff like TRAFFIC COURT, etc. (i.e.--stuff that’s your fault). IF YOU MISS CLASS YOU MUST COME TALK TO ME and show me the documents that prove your absence is legitimate. Deaths in the family, romantic crises, and other events may be considered, but only after talking to me! DON’T MISS CLASS!!!
A note on Lateness: Lateness can be just as bad as being absent. If you consistently miss even 10 minutes of class, you’ll be walking around with a 10th of your brain missing. Don’t show up late. Classes will often involve in-class assignments WHICH CANNOT be made up after the fact. Don’t miss class.
--CLASS PARTICIPATION/PRESENTATIONS: Believe me, interacting with me and the rest of the class will HELP you in so many ways. We’ll all be talking to each other for a lot of the time, trading ideas, and teaching each other; included in this will be a presentation (details tba). I’m a facilitator of all of this, not a tyrant who merely judges you. Therefore, it’s important that you not only SHOW UP to class, but that you PARTICIPATE in the class. Unfortunately, interpreting and writing about literature isn’t like The Matrix where I can download all the stuff you need to know into your brain. We gotta’ work at it, sweat a little, and challenge ourselves to get better along the way. But therein lies the fun, too. After all, we’re gonna’ read and listen to some really great stuff! By the way: I often use the chalkboard as a tool for recording our collective thoughts. You’ll also notice that I often use Socratic-style questioning in class in order to draw out important points in the material and to get you to start reading and thinking more actively. These techniques mimic the kind of active and reactive thinking I want you to do while you read on your own. So again, I can’t stress enough how important in-class discussion and thinking-out-loud will be to you.
--WRITING: there will be weekly in-class writing assignments designed to aid you in class discussions as well as sharpen your on-the-spot critical skills. These will not be graded for content--they should be conceived of as practice, practice writing and thinking, in much the same way that you would practice scales and exercises if you played a musical instrument: warm-ups for greater projects and complex thinking. You are expected to have basic facility with Standard Written English BEFORE entering this class. (But again, you don’t need to know how to read music!)
There will also be two papers which will ask you to explicate specific texts. Much of the in-class discussion and reading will involve doing this aurally in order to help your papers grow. The first paper will be a “getting-to-know-you” paper; the second “paper” is really a brainstorming session for paper 3, which will be a longer version of paper 1: a formal explication of a text or texts (probably a poem).
I recommend you make 3 COPIES of all typed work you do: 1 hard copy for me, 1 hard copy for you, and 1 copy on your computer.
Late papers will be penalized a third of a grade for each day they are late. After one week (seven days from due date, INCLUDING weekends) I will not accept papers. So, for example, a paper that would have been an “A” would be an “B+” if it was two days late. If you do turn in a late paper, I require that you send me an e-mail copy of it so that I know the time and date you turned it in. Rather sneaky of me, yes?
--FINAL EXAM/QUIZZES: There will be several short, easy quizzes. And one long quiz known as a final exam. The final will undoubtedly involve writing short essays and will be a take-home project. Quizes are not intended to be punitive but they will ensure that everyone is keeping up with the reading.
--READING: The course will be very fast paced. I expect everyone to read CAREFULLY and to TAKE NOTES as you read. “Reading” does NOT mean merely passing your eyes over the text. We will be reading lots of short but dense pieces, often in-class, as well as one very complex and rather lengthy novel. Reading assignments will be heavier over the weekend. And yes, you will have to read aloud. . . get used to the sound of your own mellifluous voice. I want to immerse us in this material and see what happens.
--LISTENING: I want you to take this just as seriously as the reading-- part of what literature scholars often do is use their critical skills to look at the world around them-- outside of written texts-- and so I want you to practice your critical skills on music, too. You’ll become an active reader and LISTENER in this course. PLEASE BE CAREFUL AND RESPONSIBLE with the audio portion of the class; the record industry has been cracking down lately on students who violate copyright laws. Don’t be their next victim. To access listening selections, you will need to go to the ACGCC (SH 2710). CD’s with the selections will be available for your listening pleasure; THEY CANNOT BE TAKEN OUT OF THE ACGCC.
--(TENTATIVE): ON-LINE COMPONENT: In addition to the audio portion of the course, much information can be found on the course website. HOWEVER: I discourage you from doing research solely on-line-- since nearly anyone can post stuff on-line, the internet is full of crazy, inaccurate, stupid stuff along with all the great stuff. (So is the library, but the Internet has even more of all of the above).
--OUTSIDE-OF-CLASS LECTURES: there will be at least ONE REQUIRED lecture outside of regular class time (Dick Hebdige’s talk for an upcoming conference at UCSB). YOU MUST ATTEND THIS LECTURE. (it will PROBABLY be on November 3rd) Details tba.
--CONFERENCES: Everyone is REQUIRED to come to at least ONE conference with me, early on in the quarter, to discuss papers and to get to know me. These will be outside of regular class time; I’ll be sending around a sign-up sheet.
[edit] Grading
The course breaks down like so--
Paper 1: 10%
Paper 2: 5 %
Paper 3: 30%
Final Exam: 20%
Class participation/attendance: 30% (quizes, outside lectures, etc.)
Conferences: 5%
Making a grand total of 100%
I ultimately grade holistically, which means that I take into account your improvement over the course of the quarter in addition to your raw number grade; I also will note any decline in the quality of your work and/or class participation. . .
A MESSAGE FROM THE LAW: PLAGIARISM= “submitting words, ideas, and/or written work of another person without giving credit to that person is considered academic dishonesty. Whether you are quoting directly or simply paraphrasing someone else’s ideas, you should always give credit in the text of your paper to the person from whom you are borrowing. Penalties for plagiarism include failure of the assignment, failure in the course, and disciplinary action by the University.” This is the way my colleague Ilene Miele describes it on her syllabus. I hope you see my point and my little serious joke about plagiarism; I CITED my SOURCE for that quote. Don’t plagiarize; it’s an ugly ugly business.
DISCLAIMER: Any information re: the reading/assignment schedule on this syllabus is subject to change with sufficient notice. You are responsible for keeping track of changes to course readings, etc. as I announce them; missing class and doing the wrong assignment won’t make me sympathize with you. Make sure you keep up with what’s going on.
Note: if you need assistance with a disability, you must register with the Disabled Students Program. There number is 893-2668. www.sa.ucsb.edu/dsp
DO NOT LOSE THIS SYLLABUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[edit] Course Schedule
(Unless otherwise noted: reading selections are found in the course reader; page numbers refer to the course reader.) READINGS ARE HEAVY; PLEASE PLAN ACCORDINGLY!!!! (again, please note that this schedule is subject to change)
[edit] Week 1
Introduction/The Oral Tradition meets the Aural Tradition
Sept 26: Welcome to the class; business stuff, etc. etc.; Intro to class themes. Watch portion of Ken Burns’ Jazz episode 1: “Gumbo.” ASSIGNMENT: PAPER ASSIGNMENT #1 distributed. (DUE MONDAY, OCTOBER 3). Read Cut n’ Mix pp 1-50; plus Leslie Marmon Silko selections; Vijay Prasad, “Of India”; Phillis Wheatley “On Being Brought from Africa to America”; and David Reck, “The Ladder of Orpheus.”
LISTENING: Zuni lullabies; selections from Drums of Defiance; Ustad Alla Rakha and Zakir Hussain, excerpt from “tabla solo in tintal”); John Coltrane Quartet, “My Favorite Things”; Outkast, “My Favorite Things”; Omar Jobarteh and other Griot/Djelli musicians from Guinea-Bissau, “Sunjata”; Walter and Luce Maioli, “Sea Language--Shells”; selections from Sacred Rhythms of Cuban Santeria; Lord Invader, “Old Time Cat-O’-Nine”; Lord Composer, “Hill and Gully Ride; Mandeville Road”
Sept 28: ASSIGNMENT: read Cut n’ Mix pp 50-102; plus Brad Mehldau, “Music and Language”; W.E.B. DuBois selections; Eduoard Glissant, “People and Language”; Donald Barthelme selections; Amie Cesaire, “Macumba Word”; Walter Kingsley, “Whence Comes Jass?”; Max Roach, “Beyond Categories.”; and Miles Davis excerpt.
LISTENING: Radiohead, “Everything in Its Right Place”; Brad Mehldau Trio, “Everything in Its Right Place”; Charlie Parker (w/Dizzy Gillespie), “Groovin’ High”, (w/ Miles Davis and Max Roach), “Now’s the Time”; selected spirituals; Louis Armstrong, “King of the Zulus”, “Saint James Infirmary”; selections from The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari; Bob Marley and the Wailers, “Rastaman Chant,” “Get Up, Stand Up”; The Skatalites, “Guns of Navarone”; Jimmy Cliff, “The Harder They Come”; Desmond Dekker, “Israelites”; U-Roy & Tommy McCook & the Supersonics, “Your Ace From Space”; Sly and Robbie, “African Dub”; Steel Pulse, “Prediction”; Linton Kwesi Johnson, “Bass Culture”
[edit] Week 2
Oral and Aural Traditions, continued/Trajectories of “Race Music”
Oct 3 :PAPER #1 DUE TODAY AT BEGINNING OF CLASS!!!! ASSIGNMENT: read Griel Marcus excerpt, plus “The Cukoo Song”, Ezra Pound, “Ancient Music” and “Huang Niao”, Sarah Vowell, “John Brown’s Body and The Battle Hymn of the Republic”, and Bertolt Brecht selections; and Robert Johnson and Bessie Smith selections
LISTENING: Clarence Ashley, “The Coo Coo Bird”; The Deller Consort “The Cuckoo Song”; Pete Seeger, “John Brown’s Body”; Brecht/Weill songs; Robert Johnson and Bessie Smith selections; sermons and other selections from The Land Where the Blues Began, The Harry Smith Anthology of American Folk Music, and Sounds of the South; listen to the Sarah Vowell piece at via the npr (national public radio) website-- look up the program “This American Life” and search for the Vowell selection
Oct 5: ASSIGNMENT: read T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land; Lewis Allan, “Strange Fruit”; Frank O’Hara, “The Day Lady Died”
LISTENING: Billie Holiday, “Strange Fruit”; Sting w/ the Gil Evans Orchestra, “Strange Fruit”; Cassandra Wilson, “Strange Fruit”; T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land; selections from Igor Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring
[edit] Week 3
Blues Made Visible: Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man
Oct 10: ASSIGNMENT: read Invisible Man pp 1-108; plus Albert Murray “Improvisation as a Creative Process”
LISTENING: Louis Armstrong, “Black and Blue”; various jazz tba
Oct 12: ASSIGNMENT: read Invisible Man pp 109-317, LISTENING: tba
[edit] Week 4
Invisible Man, continued
Oct 17: ASSIGNMENT: read Invisible Man pp 318-408 LISTENING: tba
Oct 19: ASSIGNMENT: read Invisible Man 409-end LISTENING: tba
===Week 5=== Invisible Man-- Moving Between the “Frequencies”
Oct 24: ASSIGNMENT: read George Lipsitz, “Noises in the Blood: Culture, Conflict, and Mixed Race Identities”
LISTENING: Babs Gonzalez selections and Lord Buckley, “The Hip Gan”, from The Beat Generation; various other boundary crossing tunes
Oct 26: ASSIGNMENT: read Kofi Natambu, “Words and Music in America”, Nicolas Guillen, “Sensemaya”, plus all of the Langstson Hughes selections-- see below under listening. PAPER ASSIGNMENT #2 distributed. (DUE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 7th)
LISTENING: The Weary Blues; read the poems once without the music, listen to the CD, and then read along as you listen; Louis Armstrong, “Weary Blues”; Charles Mingus selections; Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra, “Oop-Pop-a-Dah”
[edit] Week 6
Jazz, Beats, Poetry
Oct 31: ASSIGNMENT: read John Coltrane selections; James Baldwin selections; Gwendolyn Brooks, “We Real Cool”; F. Scott Fitzgerald excerpt; Nella Larsen excerpt; Ann Petry, “Solo on the Drums”; plus Edward K. Brathwaite selections
LISTENING: John Coltrane Quartet, A Love Supreme parts 1 and 4 (listen for the prayer in “Psalm”); Duke Ellington selections; various jazz drum solos; Bud Powell selections
Nov 2: ASSIGNMENT: tba LISTENING: tba
[edit] Week 7
Jazz, Beats, Poetry (continued)/Some American Troubadours
Nov 7: PAPER #2 DUE TODAY AT BEGINNING OF CLASS!!!! ASSIGNMENT: read Bob Dylan selections, Allen Ginsberg, “America”, Ezra Pound (remaining selections)
LISTENING: Bob Dylan selections; Allen Ginsberg, “America”; Ezra Pound selections; Woody Guthrie selections; Jack Kerouac, “The Beat Generation”
Nov 9: Watch Bob Dylan documentary. ASSIGNMENT: read Mark Dery, “Black to the Future: Afrofuturism Version 1.0”; DJ Spooky a.k.a. Paul D. Miller, “Yet Do I Wonder”; Countee Cullen, “Yet Do I Marvel”
LISTENING: Herbie Hancock, “Rockit”; Jimi Hendrix, “The Star-Spangled Banner”; DJ Spooky selections; Afrika Bambaataa and Soul Sonic Force, “Planet Rock”; Kraftwerk, “Trans-Europe Express”; other seminal afro-futurist music
[edit] Week 8
Afrofuturism
Nov 14: ASSIGNMENT: read John Szwed/Sun Ra selections; John Corbett, “Brothers from another Planet: The Space Madness of Lee “Scratch” Perry, Sun Ra, and George Clinton”; plus Wallace Stevens selections
LISTENING: Sun Ra, Lee “Scratch” Perry, and Parliament/Funkadelic selections; Wallace Stevens selections
Nov 16: Watch excerpts from Sun Ra: A Joyful Noise and Space is the Place ASSIGNMENT: read Tricia Rose, “A Style Nobody Can Deal With: Politics, Style, and the Post-Industrial City in Hip-Hop”
LISTENING: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, “The Message”; Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli), “Astronomy (8th Light)”, “Respiration”; plus other hip-hop
[edit] Week 9
Afrofuturism, continued/Improvisation and its Limits
Nov 21: Watch excerpts of Style Wars, Wild Style, and Scratch. ASSIGNMENT: read Burnet Hershey, “Jazzing Around the Globe”, Dick Hebdige, “Even Unto Death: Improvisation, Edging, and Enframement”, Jean-Paul Sartre, “Jazz in America”
LISTENING: global jazz selections; Bill Evans selections.
Nov 23: Watch clips of Ghost Dog. ASSIGNMENT: tba
LISTENING: tba
[edit] Week 10
Wrap Up/Final Chorus
Nov 28: tba
Nov 30: FINAL EXAM DISTRIBUTED!!!
FINAL PAPER and FINAL EXAM DUE WEDNESDAY DECEMBER 7TH by 5 PM!!!
