Catalog Description: Introduction to English Studies at UH Mânoa, including the purpose, practice, and potential of literary and rhetorical study of texts; consideration given to Hawaiian and/or Pacific texts in cultural and historical context.
No man is an island, intire of it selfe; every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a Clod bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee. –John Donne
This course, the only course required of all UHM English majors, is an introduction to the study of literary and cultural (including visual) texts: how we read them, interpret them, contextualize them, critique them, and imbibe them into our consciousness and identity. Our thematic focus will be on islands, which have exerted a powerful pull on the modern imagination through texts that have used the idea of islands to define experimental self-hood (“imagine yourself all alone on a desert island . . . ) and texts that question this isolationistic and individualistic concept, such as Epeli Hau’ofa’s seminal essay, “Our Sea of Islands.” Such imagery has been central to the development of the post-Enlightenment sense of self, shaped by encounters with the colonial “other” (for example, The Tempest’s Caliban/Ariel, Robinson Crusoe’s Friday) well as used by post-colonial writers to interrogate such ideology in their re-imagining of these “foundational” texts. Along the way we will gain an understanding of the development the various genres (drama, poetry, the novel, and film) within their historical contexts, as well as the various critical approaches used to encompass them. Because this is a writing intensive course, we will also focus on the conventions of writing and researching literary essays, including MLA style and documentation, as well as the appropriate use of quotations.
Major Texts (available at Revolution Books; if purchased online, be sure you buy the Norton Critical Editions, which include additional works to be assigned)
• William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Norton Critical Edition
• Aimee Cesaire, A Tempest
• Daniel De Foe, Robinson Crusoe, Norton Critical Edition
• J.M. Coetzee, Foe
• Epeli Hau’ofa, Tales of the Tikongs
• Lois-Ann Yamanaka, Blu’s Hanging
• MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, 7th Edition.
• A substantial course reader, available on Laulima
Films we will view (all or parts of)
• Fred M. Wilcox, Forbidden Planet (1956)
• Peter Greenaway, Prospero’s Books (1991)
• Julie Traynor, The Tempest (2010)
• Georges Méliès, Robinson Crusoe (1902)
• Luis Buñuel, Robinson Crusoe (1954)
Major Requirements
Two 4-5 page formal literary essays (15% each), one of which must be revised after consultation. (10%) (40% total)
A 6-8 page Research paper on one of the non-Norton Critical Edition texts. Includes related assignment. (25%)
Homework: Study Questions, Summaries of critical works, one-page reading responses, etc. (25%)
Presentations of Research project (5%)
Final exam (5%)
Attendance, Preparation, Participation