Tuesday, August 31, 2010

For Thursday: Kincaid's A Small Place (from handout)

Jamaica Kincaid's short book, A Small Place, is a kind of postcolonial Oroonoko, as it offers a cynical travelogue to the would-be tourist (typically American) to Antigua.  Read Chapter One (from the handout in class) and try to be alert to her anti-colonial stance and how she depicts tourism as a kind of neo-colonialism that keeps the Antiguans in a slave/master relationship long after independence.  Also consider some of the following ideas in your response...

* Why does she write in second person, a seldom used narrative technique?  What effect does this have on the reader?
* What does the tourist see in Antigua?  What does she particularly want us to see on our tour?  Would the Travel Board of Antigua agree? 
* Why does she claim, on page 14, that a tourist is "an ugly human being"?  How do you think she defines this term?  Is it simply a traveler?  Or someone else?
* Why does she feel that everyone is potential tourist, and everyone is a potential native? 
* How does her postcolonial point of view contrast sharply with the narrator of Behn's Oroonoko?  What experience is she trying to "sell" to the reader? 
* To whom do you feel she is writing as a "Commonwealth" writer?  To a British/American audience?  To Antiguans?  Academics? 

Saturday, August 28, 2010

For Tuesday: "Opinions on Slavery" (Norton, pp.159-185)

Famous portrait of Olaudah Equiano after the publication of his book
Here are some ideas to consider for each reading, though feel free to combine readings and approaches (or to apply questions for one reading to another):

“A Declaration By The Barbados Colonists” (1651): This declaration predates the publication of Oroonoko by several decades, making it an interesting counterpoint to the colonial perspective offered by the unnamed narrator. Based on this declaration, how might colonists feel themselves growing apart from the mother country and becoming “othered” themselves? In what way does being a colonist mean forsaking a traditional definition of Englishness?

John Locke, excerpts from Two Treatises of Government (1690): An influential thinker and writer, Locke’s ideas profoundly influenced the American and French revolutions of the 18th century. How might his argument for the “natural state of man” support Oroonoko’s own bid for freedom in the novel? On the same hand, how does Locke, despite his humanitarian impulses, define slavery within the construct of “the state of nature” and “the state of war”?

“The Speech of Moses Bon Sáam” (1735): Writings like this formed a genre of abolitionist writing written exclusively by white Englishmen trying to further the cause. Most likely, Moses Bon Sáam was a mask for one such abolitionist. Nevertheless, what arguments does he advance against Locke’s notion of slavery as a “natural” state for a certain class of people? Why might these arguments resonate with (and perhaps even be inspired by) the example of Oroonoko?

“The Answer of Caribeus to Moses Bon Sáam” (1735): This is the prototypical “apology” for slavery in the 17th/18th century. In essence, how is slavery defended as a necessary state of existence and even as a kind of blessing upon the slave him/herself?

Samuel Johnson, “To Boswell: Dictated Brief to Free a Slave” (1777): How does Johnson echo many of the sentiments from Moses Bon Sáam to attack a Lockean view of slavery? Why does Boswell feel the need to editorialize this sentiment at the end of the excerpt? Though he admits that Johnson’s views are “perhaps…in the right” (177), what crucial element does he feel Johnson overlooks?

Olaudah Equiano, from The Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789): This is one of the most extraordinary works of the late 18th century, as it is a polished, almost novelistic account of slavery from the inside—a slave who was captured as a child, served in the Royal Navy, and gradually bought his freedom (though few Englishmen believed in a freed slave). How do these excerpts contrast with the “white” perspective of slavery seen in Oroonoko, Moses Bon Sáam, and Johnson? Is Equiano able to write like an Englishman yet remain, in spirit, an African? In other words, how much does he conform to literary expectations—or how much does he remain an outsider sneaking in?

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

For Thursday: Behn's Oroonoko (be sure to finish!)

An 18th century depiction of slave torture
Other ideas and passages to consider in your second response to Oroonoko:

* Though Oroonoko has many elements of the "romance," particularly the sections in Africa, it also borrows from another popular genre of 17th/18th century literature, the travel narrative.  In what ways might you consider Oroonoko as a "travel guide" to Surinam...and furthermore, how might it function as a sales pitch for future colonists? 

* Consider how Behn depicts the Surinam natives when "she" and Oroonoko visit them in their village.  How does this jive with her earlier depictions of the natives as "Edenic" children? 

* Does the narrator betray Oroonoko toward the end?  Why doesn't she protect him, or at least use her great influence to dissuade him?  Why does she conveniently dissapear toward the end of the narrative?

* In Srinivas Aravamudan's famous book on 18th century colonialism, Tropicopolitans, he writes this about Oroonoko: "Oroonoko’s pethood is linked to earlier descriptions of the natives being “caressed,” as well as wild birds and animals being collected for the same purpose...Echoing this consumerist impulse, the narrator assimilates Oroonoko’s and Imoinda’s scarification to statuary…such ornamentation is relevant as a description of a potential pet and a variety of other mercantile objects, to elicit a collector’s desire to possess the “curios” that adorned the mantelpieces and cabinets of the leisured classes” (41).  Is the narrator's interest in Oroonoko simply that--a desire to possess a "curio" of this strange colony?  Is the work an allegory for the consumerist impulse of colonialism itself, the desire to own and possess the outside world? 

* Examine Oroonoko's great speech before his final battle: is this a theatrical set piece or a truly abolitionist argument?  How does this change or complicate or views of Oroonoko, the narrator, or Behn herself? 

* How does the narrator record Oroonoko's torture and death?  Does it seem to be heroically tragic, like his famous namesake, or has he turned into a colonial monster--similar to the natives whose dashing dismemberment Oroonoko seems to emulate?  How did she mean us to read this...and do we read it differently today? 

Thursday, August 19, 2010

For Tuesday: Behn's Oroonoko Part I


At right: a portrait of Aphra Behn, one of the first women to make her living from writing (chiefly as a playwright), which inspired the following tribute from Virginia Woolf: "All women together ought to let flowers fall upon the tomb of Aphra Behn which is, most scandalously but rather appropriately, in Westminster Abbey, for it was she who earned them the right to speak their minds.  It is she--shady and amorous as she was--who makes it not quite fantastic for me to say to you tonight: Earn five hundred a year by your wits" (Chapter Four, A Room of One's Own). 

Remember that your first 1-2 page reading response is due in-class.  It can be about anything that interests, confuses, or excites you, but try to be specific and consider close reading a short passage to illustrate your ideas.  Here are a few ideas to consider as you start reading Oroonoko:

• How does the narrator depict the natives of Surinam? Look at her language and imagery.

• What makes Oroonoko stand out from the other slaves? Why is the narrator taken with him, and how does she describe him and his virtues in the novel?

• Does Oroonoko read like a novel? Some critics claim it is one of the first novels, though the term didn’t exist at the time. What elements are or aren’t like a more traditional (19th century) novel? 

• How are the British characterized in general in Oroonoko? Do you feel that Behn was more sympathetic toward the natives and the slaves, or her own people?

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Welcome to the Course...

Thanks for enrolling in English 4553, Colonial & Postcolonial Literature.  Consult your syllabus for details about the course and the reading schedule.  Note that we will be reading our six books in pairs of two, each one focusing on a different colonial region starting with The Caribbean, and followed by Africa and India.  Our first book is Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, which we will start next Tuesday (questions and readings to follow).

For THURSDAY: Be sure to read the two short essays I gave out in class, Rushdie's "Commonwealth Literature Does Not Exist," and Hulme's "Columbus and the Cannibals."  If you missed class you will find the essays in the box on my door (336C).  There are no questions for these essays; simply come to class ready to discuss them and consider how they relate to our discussion of colonialism. 

I really, really look forward to sharing this class with you!