Topic: Prizing the Postcolonial Novel
Professor: Mindi McMann
Meetings: Monday 5:30pm-8:20pm
Course Description:
The Booker Prize was originally intended to identify some of the best literature every year produced in Britain or the British Commonwealth. This course will focus specifically on literature produced outside of Britain in a postcolonial context, and analyze trends and developments through the Booker winners and shortlisted novels. What geographic areas and narrative forms are privileged in these awards? What does that suggest about the development of postcolonial studies? Can we identify trends within these awards that relate to larger political and social forces at work? The course will emphasize postcolonial theory and theories of globalization. The tentative reading list includes Ben Okri, V.S. Naipaul, Nadine Gordimer, and Arundhati Roy.