Literature from the Pacific
English 6365 - Multicultural Literature
Instructor: Dr Sandra Tawake
English Department
East Carolina University
Greenville, NC 27858
Email: TAWAKES@MAIL.ECU.EDU
Reading List
The Contemporary Pacific - vol. 6, no. 2, 1994 essay by
Christina Thompson (on reserve)
Tides of History- K. R. Howe, R. C. Kiste, & Brij Lal
(on reserve)
South Pacific Literature: From Myth to Fabulation - Subramani
(on reserve)
Introduction to Subjective Criticism - David Bleich
Metaphors and Symbols - Roland Bartel
Maori: The Crisis and the Challenge - Alan Duff (on
reserve)
Leaves of the Banyan Tree - Albert Wendt
The Bone People - Keri Hulme
Once Were Warriors - Alan Duff
"Last Virgin in Paradise" - Vilsoni Hereniko
The Birth and Death of the Miracle Man - "Balloonfish..."
Albert Wendt (on reserve)
Te Kaihau/The Windeater - "Drift in Dream" Keri
Hulme (on reserve)
Flying Fox in a Freedom Tree - "Descendent of the
Mountain" Albert Wendt (on reserve)
Course Description
The course will follow a reader-response approach to selected
works from one of the new world literatures in English. Students
will read selected introductory materials related to subjective
criticism, and 3 novels, a play, and selected poems and stories
written by Pacific-island writers. Students will keep a reading
journal, respond to reading guide instruments, and write a
critical paper.
Objectives:
The student will be able
to place works of Pacific Literature within a cultural and
artistic context,
to identify and respond emotionally and intellectually to
culturally conditioned values and behaviors depicted in texts,
compare and contrast cultural values and behavior depicted in
texts with the student's own values and behavior,
analyze and interpret South Pacific literary texts using a
reader-response approach,
explore and resolve conflicts defined through engagement with
texts and present conclusions clearly and succinctly in writing.
Requirements:
| Attendance and Participation |
|
30% |
| Critical Paper |
|
30% |
| Reading Guide Response Questions |
|
20% |
| Reading Journal |
|
20% |
Schedule and Assignments
| May 17 Wed |
Introduction to Course
In class: "The Transactional Theory of
Literature" - Karolides |
| May 22 Mon |
Introduction to
Subjective Criticism -Bleich
South Pacific Literature (on reserve) Chapter 1
Books I and II Leaves of the Banyan Tree
Hereniko interview with Albert Wendt - video |
| May 24 Wed |
Book Ill Leaves of the
Banyan
South Pacific Literature (on reserve) Chapter 6
Group I - Journals due
Reader-response Questions on Leaves |
| May 29 Mon |
Once Were Warriors
Maori: The Crisis and the Challenge (on reserve)
Introduction
Essay: "In Whose Face: An Essay on the work of Alan
Duff in The Contemporary Pacific-pp. 398-413. (on
reserve) |
| May 31 Wed |
Metaphor & Symbols -
Bartel
Maori: The Crisis and the Challenge (on reserve)
Chap. 13
Reader-response Questions on Warriors
Group 11 Journals due |
| June 5 Mon |
Parts I and II The Bone
People
Poem: "E Nga Iwi O Ngai Tahu" (handout) |
| June 7 Wed |
Part III and IV The Bone
People
Reader-response Questions on The Bone
People
Group Ill - Journals due |
| June 12 Mon |
"Last Virgin in
Paradise"
Bring draft of critical paper to class |
| June 14 Wed |
"Representations of
Cultural Identities" from Tides of History (on
reserve)
Talking Past Each Other - Metge and Kinloch (on
reserve)
Critical paper due |
| June 19 Mon |
All Journals due
Stories:
"Descendant of the Mountain" in Flying Fox- Wendt
(reserve)
"The Balloonfish ..." in The Birth &
Death ... - Wendt (reserve)
"A Drift in Dream" in Te Kaihau - Keri
Hulme (on reserve) |
[Subject: Literature; Pacific/Comparative]
| 
