| Instructor: Philip Holden, Associate Professor, English Language and Literature,
NUS |
Introduction and Description
Captured by the radio . . . as soon as he awakens,
the listener walks all day long through forests of narrativities, advertising
and television, narrativities that still find time, as he is getting ready for
bed, to slip a few final messages under the portals of sleep. . . . [T]hese
stories have a providential and predestinating function; they organize in
advance our work, our celebrations and even our dreams.
(Michel de Certeau)
To the French critic Michel de Certeau's list of narrative forms quoted above we might now
add several others: music videos, jokes, web sites, the trails that we follow when we follow
hyperlinks, the pared-down sentences of internet relay chat. Stories are
found in all human cultures, and the ability to tell stories is often seen as a distinguishing mark humanity. Why do we need stories? And why do we, as children or as adults, often like to experience the same story time and time again?
A possible answer is that most stories, most narratives, are simultaneously both like and unlike life. All narratives take us away from our everyday lives, whether to a different place, or time, or merely a different angle on something familiar. In this way they are unlike our lives. At the same time, narratives contain something recognisably similar to our own experiences: even characters in a manga comic or a fantasy novel experience emotions which we, too, feel. Narratives thus give us a certain distance from our lives, even as they compose the reality in which we live. The critical study of narratives thus involves us becoming strangers to ourselves,
challenging fixed perspectives on the world by looking differently at other
lives and, ultimately, at our own.
Our analysis of narratives will proceed through three units in the course of
the module. In the first unit, we will acquire a critical vocabulary to talk
about the various elements of narratives, such as character, setting, plot,
point of view, and the manipulation of time. In each class meeting, we will
attempt to apply our growing vocabulary to a number of short narratives, mostly
short stories, but also including comic strips and advertisements. Above all, we
will be concerned to become conscious of how narrative techniques of which a
reader is usually unconscious contribute to our pleasure in reading.
In the second unit of the course, we will explore more closely the
relationship of narratives to the social world of which they are part. Do
narratives have a normalising or a subversive function? Do they reiterate
societal norms, or do they offer the potential to look beyond the present and
envision other futures? We will look here at the role of genre,
the notions of ideology and defamiliarization, as well as particular kinds of narratives --metafictional narratives--which attempt to make us conscious of their own fictionality. Our range of texts here will be
broader: in addition to prose fiction, we will examine television serials and
popular history. If all goes well, we will also go to see a play.
The third unit of the module will bring the concerns of the first two modules
together in the intensive reading of two interrelated texts: Chinese writer Mo
Yan's novel Red Sorghum and the Zhang Yimou movie based upon it. We will
be considering Mo's novel as a rewriting of Chinese history after the Cultural
Revolution and its attempts to create a new ideologically-motivated notion of
Chinese identity. We will examine the film according to the conventions of
filmic narrative, explore its differences from the novel, and the
different questions it poses for its audiences. Finally, we shall consider the
manner in which the film has been received by international audiences, and the
ascent to star status of both Zhang Yimou and Gong Li. The various research activities which we will focus on the two texts will provide models for research for the second assignment.
This will consist of four components:
Assignment One: 20%
A short analysis of a story selected from a number of short stories
provided, using some of the terminology acquired in Unit 1. You will have the
chance to prepare a draft of this assignment for a peer editing session. You
will be assessed on the final draft of this assignment, submitted after the peer
editing process is complete.
Assignment Two: Total 50%
A longer analysis of a narrative of your choice, in which you consider not only
the technical elements of narrative, but also the social context in which it is
written or read, using some of the theoretical material introduced in Unit 2. The assignment will be assessed on two components:
Proposal and Summary of Theoretical Material submitted towards the end of Unit 2: 10%
Final Draft submitted at the end of Unit 3: 40%
3. In-Class Essay: 10%
A short essay written in the last week of classes on the specific issues raised
regarding Red Sorghum in Unit 3.
4. Bulletin Board Postings: 20%
In addition to the two formal assignments, you'll have a choice
shorter writing activities in preparation for our class meetings which will be
posted on the IVLE bulletin board. Note that you can miss six of these postings without penalty.
For most class meetings, you will need to do preparatory readings. While I am attempting to get some of the material placed on the Web, the majority of the essays will be available in a packet from the Photocopying Vendor in the Central Library. An extra copy of the readiung packet will be avaialable in the Core Curriculum Reading Room on the Sixth Floor, Old Admin. Building. Consult the syllabus for the reading requirements for each seminar meeting.
Mo Yan's novel Red Sorghum, which we will study in Unit 3 of the module, is available from the Co-op Bookstore.
I haven't studied Literature since Sec 2. Can I take this module?
Yes! No prior knowledge of Literature is presumed, and students without a background in Literature have done well in the module in the past. Since much of the assessment is on written work, however, you'll have an advantage if you have taken a Writing Programme module.
I enjoy reading and watching movies, but all these terms sound very chim. Will the module be difficult?
USP is about being chim--delving more deeply into issues and questions is actually one of the most interesting things you can do. The module's as difficult--and challenging--as you make it.
How much reading will I have to do?
On average, about thirty pages for each seminar session.
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