Aims: For many decades, Britons proudly proclaimed that “the sun never set” on their imperial possessions. But after World War II, it did. And as waves of colonial (and ex-colonial) subjects migrated to the UK, effecting what Jamaican poet Louise Bennett dubbed “Colonisation in Reverse,” Britain felt firsthand the effects of its Empire’s collapse. Ever since that time, the nation has suffered from something of an identity crisis. This course, then, will focus on how recent British writers and filmmakers have struggled to imagine their nation as a post-imperial place.
Texts: Many of our required texts—essays, poems, newspaper clippings, popular songs, etc.—will be distributed in photocopied form and/or (before we leave the U.S.) in an on-line course reader linked from the class web page (still to be built). Others may be drawn from three excellent websites, two of them created by the London Guardian:
and the other, maintained by the BBC, devoted to Black British history and culture:
Since you will probably not have Internet access when in Oxford, you should spend several hours exploring these sites over the next few weeks.
I’d also like to leave open the possibility that we may discover other literary or cultural texts that deserve our attention, once we arrive in England. There are, however, a few longer works that you should acquire soon (from the HSU bookstore, or wherever else you can find them), so that you can give them an initial reading between the end of Spring semester and the time you leave:
· Caryl Churchill, Cloud 9 (Theatre Communications Group)
· Kazuo Ishiguro, The Remains of the Day (Vintage)
· Hanif Kureishi, The Buddha of Suburbia (Penguin)
Ishiguro’s novel was made into a film starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson, while Kureishi adapted his into a six-hour mini-series for the BBC. (The latter is available locally at Video Experience; the former is available at video stores everywhere.) While seeing the films is no substitute for reading the novels, it’s always an interesting exercise to compare both versions. While we may find time to screen part or all of these films on video when we’re in Oxford, it might also be nice for you to have rented and watched them ahead of time. While you’re at it, you can rent the following two films, which are also required “texts” that we will definitely screen as a group in England:
· Richard Eyre’s 1983 film, The Ploughman’s Lunch, and
· Mike Leigh’s 1996 film, Secrets and Lies
(Once we’re in England, I may ask you to buy the screenplay to Leigh’s film, since it’s out of print in the U.S. (though you may be able to find a used copy on the Internet) but in print in the U.K. Another highly recommended text that I may yet add to the reading list is Zadie Smith’s debut novel from 2000, White Teeth. It’s available in paperback—cheaply—in England, but won’t be out in paper here in the U.S. until June 12th.)
Work: I haven’t quite worked out the nature and timing of the course’s major assignments yet. I know that there will be times when I’ll need to lecture at you or perform a bit of show-and-tell. On other occasions, there may be visitors to our class who will enlighten us on some aspect of contemporary Britain. But for the most part, we’ll talk, and I expect you to be enthusiastic learners who are willing to explore this post-imperial territory both independently and coöperatively.
The bare minimum of what’s required, then, is to complete the reading assignments carefully and on time, and to actively engage in the collective dialogue that ensues. You’ll need to do your small part to inaugurate discussions and keep them going, and to show some degree of intelligence, inquisitiveness and enthusiasm, both in responding to one another and to the materials under scrutiny, and in helping to control the direction and flow of the conversation. Beyond that, things are still a bit fuzzy:
Grades: Here’s where the oppressive substructure of my seemingly benevolent classroom shows through. I expect you’re coming on this program not primarily to earn a grade but to gain some first-hand experience of another culture, and I also expect we’re going to have an awful lot of fun studying together in Oxford. Just the same, don’t forget that we’re nominally there on an academic program, not on holiday. My letter grades adhere to official guidelines: “A” is reserved for exceptionally, stunningly, well-written, well-spoken and insightful stuff. “B” gets tacked onto the extra-ordinary—work which goes qualitatively beyond mere course requirements. “C” is standard and normal; it meets the minimum requirements in every way. “D” is worthy of credit but substandard, and we all know what “F” means. If you’re taking the class CR/NC, you need the equivalent of a “C” to pass. I won’t give any incompletes.
I’ll read and respond to anything you hand or send in and I’ll put grades on your required work. Please talk to me at any point before, during or after the term to discuss your progress, prospects, enthusiasms or anxieties. If you get behind in the class, feel as though you’re not “getting” something, or you’re just having an unspecified problem either mild or severe, please, please, please: don’t sit around fretting and cowering—come and talk to me without delay.
Calendar: To be announced.