Referring to the allegedly lower currency of magic(al) realism in British fiction, the novelist John Fowles explains it thus: “I think the main problem with magical realism in this country is a moral, or puritanical one […] what the British will not accept is that magic realists can have their cake and eat it – both ‘bend’ reality and be really serious.” The seminar seeks to tackle this rather myopic understanding of British fiction through the discussion of a choice of novels and short stories whose deployment of magic(al) realism in one or way or another exposes the transnational literary legacy and turbulent political history that characterizes modern anglophone, Britain-associated fiction. The novels featured are Wilson Harris’ Palace of the Peacock (1960), Angela Carter’s Nights at the Circus (1984), Michael Ondaatje’s Running in the Family (1987) and Arundhati Roy’s The God of Small Things (1997). These will be read in combination with short stories by Irish writers Bernie McGill and Jan Carson. Also interspersed with the literary texts on the syllabus are theoretical attempts at conceptualization and non-fictional essays.
This seminar is part of module 4 from the BA English program and must be taken in conjunction with the lecture of the same module (Surveys of English Literatures). The MAP consists of a take-home-exam comprised of lecture questions and an essay assignment related to the seminar topic. |
