21L.007  World Literatures

I want to use our last meeting to take an overview of the course and get your thoughts on what worked and what didn't.  The theoretical overview, for example, the globalisation and cultural imperialism and colonial stuff: did it cohere?  Were there aspects that could have received more emphasis?  What would happen if we omitted it?  The literature from the ancient world, Gilgamesh and Medea--did they make a reasonable place to start?  Did they contribute much to the general picture, were they worth their place, or might something else have occupied that slot effectively?  Is the Caribbean the right place to go in the next slot, or is it too big a jump?  The Chinese material: is The Dream of the Red Chamber worth its place; or maybe we could expand the Tang poets by including Li Po and Po Chu-i and looking more closely at their very real influence on Modernist poetry in England and America during the early years of the 20th century which might emphasise the cultural exchange aspect of Globalisation?  The African stuff seemed to work, and could easily expand, but what could we drop to do it, and how would this effect the balance of the course?  Did the Scottish material link in meaningful ways with the rest, or is it too big a cultural jump--too much is required too quickly in terms of ajustment to a new literary language/idiom and a very complicated culture?  If that section were dropped what might take its place?  Any other thoughts you have on any of this would be appreciated, and I thought I'd give you a day or two to have a think about it.

Here's the link
web.mit.edu/subjectevaluation

I've now posted all the poems by Hamish Henderson and Tom Leonard you will need for Thursday's meeting of the class.  You'll find them under 'Scottish Poetry' in the 'Materials' section of the Stellar site.  As you read, think about language and identity, and how they relate to previous bits of the course--and not just the Scottish bits.  There's an entry for Henderson in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography which you could consult; Tom Leonard, being still alive isn't in it (yet).

I have posted a pdf file of modern Scottish poems to the Materials section.  Consider the ones by Hugh MacDiarmid for tomorrow (6th December).  Remember to print off the MacDiarmid poems and bring them with you to class: we will be subjecting them to close analysis.  You'll note that I have also provided a glossary for them.  On Thursday we move on to Hamish Henderson (who will be subject to a separate posting) and Tom Leonard.  Leonard is included in the present pdf file.  You will find, too, that I have posted a link to the online Dictionary of the Scottish Language (DSL for short), a wonderfully useful electronic edition of the combined Scottish National Dictionary (SND), and the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (DOST).   This gives you a great opportunity to consider the wider context of the poems' lexis. 

The poems for this week are in the 'Materials' section.  Please try to run them off in hard copy so we have something in our hands when we give close attention--as we shall--to the text.