FRS 002GG — Sec. 001 — (2 unit) — CRN 53663 — W 4:10-6:00 PM — 228 Voorhies
“California Classics:” Exploring Challenges to the Golden State Via Literature

Instructor: Jack Hicks, Department of English, College of Letters and Science

Description: This two-unit freshman seminar proposes study and discussion of four literary works that dramatize major developments and challenges facing California. The texts and issues are:

(1) CANNERY ROW by John Steinbeck (1944). We use Steinbeck's portrait of the sleepy fishing town of Monterey and its colorful people to talk about the ecology of the midPacific Coast and its communities, with an emphasis on the creative influence of marine biologist Ed Ricketts on novelist John Steinbeck.

(2) CADILLAC DESERT by Mark Reisner (1990). A focus on the rowdy history of water in the west, a backdrop to the Golden State as development and population approach maximum carrying capacity and fights over water use between agriculture, urban centers and indigenous regions, people and species

(3) EPITAPH FOR A PEACH by David Mas Masumoto (1995). An elegant nonfiction account of contemporary life on a Central Valley peach farm by a sophisticated organic farmer (and a UCD graduate). We consider how the pressures of agribusiness and the market economy threaten the family farm, wholesome food and the ethnic communities that traditionally work the fields and groves of the state.

(4) CROSSING OVER by Ruben Martinez (2001). The tensions between "mainstream" California and what the author calls the "Mexican Manifest Destiny"—the pull of the constant magnet of El Norte as a remedy for poverty, lack of jobs and a sense of being left behind. We look at the demographic, economic and cultural forces that drive the emerging Chicano plurality in California, and the contrast between rural Mexican life and the allure and stark reality of Los Angeles and other American cities.

Goals: (1) To inform and shape awareness of major issues of natural resources, environmental preservation, agriculture, urban sprawl and regional and ethnic identity; (2) to engage recent California literary texts and appreciate their themes, styles and structures; (3) to explore historical factors and contemporary pressures that have defined and are redefining the Golden State.

Format: Biweekly discussion of individual texts, alternating with seminar sessions that feature student reports, scholar and author visits, films, possible field trips. Grading: Regular attendance and participation in seminar; two 4-5 pp position papers on some aspect related to assigned texts, one oral presentation by each student.

About the Instructor: Dr. Hicks is a member of the English faculty and teaches 2003-2004 courses in California Literature (survey/Spring), the film and fiction of Los Angeles (seminar/Winter), and Creative Writing/Nonfiction (seminar/Spring). He is author/co-author of Tthe Literature of California (Volumes I and II) and California Poetry.