FRS 002GG— Sec. 001 — (2 unit) — CRN 65529— M 2:10-4:00pm— 225 Wright
Reading Recent Canadian Writing

Instructor: Lynette Hunter, Department of Theatre & Dance, College of Letters and Science

Description: Issues addressed will include those that currently interest me. They include ethnicity, sexuality and gender, local/global relations, and the ethics of reading. There is ample room for individuals taking the course to introduce other issues and focuses of interest. The course will explore eight pieces of recently published writing by Canadian writers, and encourage students to develop creative writing and reading skills by way of a learning journal.

Format: The readings of the Canadian texts will be integrated into the writing in the journals. Canadian writing over the past two decades has been diverse and exploratory. It is an English language literature that resists definitions in terms of nationality, and constructs many different models of belonging, community and locality. Material gathered on this course is drawn from mainstream and experimental texts, and our task is to find appropriate ways of reading. This choice will, I hope, enable us to talk about strategies for constructing and valuing the differences of other people. Grading: Final assessment of the course will be 50% for the process of producing the learning journal and 50% by a 1500 word essay.

Reading List:
Week One: Introduction to approaches to reading Canadian texts
Week Two: Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2000 0-7710-0863-5
Week Three: bpNichol, Selected Organs Toronto: Coach House Press, 1987 (supplied by instructor at cost price)
Week Four: Alice Munro, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 2001 0-7710-6525-6 (three selected short stories)
Week Five: Frank Davey, Cultural Mischief
Week Six: Michael Ondaatje, Anilís Ghost
Week Seven: Maria Campbell, Stories of the Road Allowance People, Penticton: Theytus, 1995, 0-919441-53-X
Week Eight: Hiromi Goto, The Kappa Child
Week Nine: Eden Robinson, Monkey Beach Abacus, 2000 0349107912
Week Ten: Wayne Compton ed, Bluesprint: Black British Columbian Literature and Orature Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2001 1551521180

About the Instructor: Lynette Hunter has recently come to UCDavis to the Department of Theatre and Dance. She has worked on Canadian Literature and Canadian Studies for some time, having been a founder of the British Association for Canadian Studies, and taught Canadian Literature in the UK for many years. She has a particular interest in reading and writing on Canadian writings that are very recently published. Dealing with the difficulties and joys of this kind of criticism, in the vibrant publishing culture of Canada, is one area of her current research, and follows on from a book she published on 80s-90s Canadian literature: 'Outsider Notes' (1996).