BREAD LOAF SCHOOL OF ENGLISH - 2018 COURSE CATALOG - Middlebury
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BREAD LOAF
SCHOOL
OF ENGLISH
2 0 1 8 C O U R S E C ATA L O G
SUMMER 2018 1
SUMMER 2018 SESSION DATES
VE R MONT
Arrival and registration . . . . . June 26
Classes begin . . . . . . . . . . . June 27
Classes end . . . . . . . . . . . August 7
Commencement . . . . . . . .August 11
NEW M E XICO
Arrival and registration . . . June 16–17
Classes begin . . . . . . . . . . June 18
Classes end . . . . . . . . . . . . July 26
Commencement . . . . . . . . . July 26
OXFORD
Arrival . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . June 25
Registration . . . . . . . . . . . .June 26
Classes begin . . . . . . . . . . . June 27
Classes end . . . . . . . . . . . August 3
Commencement . . . . . . . .August 4
2 BLSE
WELCOME TO
BREAD LOAF
WHERE YOU’LL FIND
■ A
unique chance to recharge ■ A
dynamic peer community of
your imagination teachers, scholars, and working
professionals
■ S
ix uninterrupted weeks of
rigorous graduate study ■ A
full range of cocurricular
opportunities
■ C
lose interaction with a
distinguished faculty ■ A
game-changing teachers’
network
■ A
n expansive curriculum in
literature, pedagogy, and
creative arts
SUMMER 2018 1
IMMER SIVE GEOGR APHICALLY DISTINCTIVE
The ideal place for teachers and working Three campuses providing distinctive cultural
professionals to engage with faculty and peers and educational experiences. Read, write, and
in high-intensity graduate study, full time. Field create in the enriching contexts of Vermont’s
trips, readings, performances, workshops, and Green Mountains, Santa Fe, and the city and
other events will enrich your critical and creative university of Oxford.
thinking.
FLE XIBLE
E XPANSIVE Education suited to your goals and building on
The only master’s program that puts courses your talents, interests, and levels of expertise.
in English, American, and world literatures in Come for one session, or pursue a master’s degree
conversation with courses in creative writing, across four to five summers.
pedagogy, and theater arts. Think across
disciplinary boundaries, and learn from faculty INDIVIDUALIZED
who bring diverse approaches to what and how Instruction and advising individualized to
they teach. foster your success. Small classes, sustained
conversations with faculty, peer mentoring, and
year-round advising help you thrive.
2 BLSE
TR ANSFORMATIVE CONNECTED
A program committed to making a difference A dedicated learning community that engages
to our students and theirs. The nationally in innovative thought and action. Bread Loaf
recognized Bread Loaf Teacher Network is connections last and last, fostering lifelong
open to all students as a year-round resource, learning and support.
providing training and support for teachers who
are committed to bringing Bread Loaf learning
into their own classrooms, changing minds, lives,
and communities.
IMAGINATIVE
Experimental pedagogies that engage the
imagination and turn literature on its head. The
Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble links performance
to interpretation in Bread Loaf classes. Weekly
workshops introduce hot-off-the-press topics,
technologies, and areas of research.
SUMMER 2018 3
4 BLSE
CAMPUSES
Bread Loaf provides opportunities for study at three distinctive
campuses—two in the U.S. and one in the U.K.
BRE AD LOAF/ VERMONT, the main campus, BRE AD LOAF/OXFORD is based at Lincoln
is located in the Green Mountain National Forest, College and is centrally located within the city
just outside Middlebury. Students have access to and university of Oxford. The student body is
the Middlebury College campus and resources. approximately 75 students. Classes, which take
The program enrolls roughly 260 students each place in tutors’ rooms across the colleges, are
summer and offers the widest curriculum and the small. Students take only one double-credit
largest faculty. All degree students must attend course, which blends independent study, seminar
this campus for at least one summer. The Bread meetings, and one-on-one tutorials. Students
Loaf Acting Ensemble brings performance into have access to the Bodleian Library, the finest
classes as an interpretive tool and heads a major research library in the world. Excursions include
theatrical production. Extracurricular activities theater trips to London and Stratford, and visits
include weekend excursions to the many nearby to museums and other historical sites.
trails, mountain lakes, and rivers.
RESIDENTIAL LIFE
BRE AD LOAF/ NEW ME XICO is housed at St. At all campuses, most students live and eat on
John’s College, just outside the city of Santa Fe. campus, where they are able to take advantage
The program enrolls approximately 75 students of the many opportunities for learning outside
and features courses tied to the local environ- the classroom. All students have access to the
ment. The Acting Ensemble assists in classes and Middlebury library system, as well as the library
stages culturally linked readings. Opera work- of the host campus. Most rooms at the U.S.
shops take advantage of the nearby Santa Fe campuses are doubles; Lincoln College rooms are
Opera and its top-quality open-air productions. singles with en suite bathrooms. Bread Loaf is
Excursions include trips to Acoma Pueblo and family friendly, but students who bring families
Tent Rocks National Park.
A peaceful spot for reading in Vermont, the everyday outdoor living of Santa Fe, and the historic streets and alleyways of
Oxford—these are what make Bread Loaf special.
SUMMER 2018 5
HISTORY
In 1915, Joseph Battell,
a former Middlebury
College student and
longtime Middlebury
businessman, willed to
Middlebury College an inn,
a collection of cottages,
and 31,000 acres in the
Ripton, Vermont 1885
heart of Vermont’s Green
Mountains. These lands
and residences became home to the Bread Loaf School of English, which held its first session
in 1920 with the aim of providing graduate education in the fields of English and American
literatures, public speaking, creative writing, dramatic production, and the teaching of
English. In 2015, the philanthropy of trustee Louis Bacon ’79 ensured the conservation of
2,100 acres of Bread Loaf land in perpetuity through the Bread Loaf Preservation Fund.
to a U.S. campus, or who wish to live off campus
at any site, must make their own arrangements;
some family housing is available in Lincoln
College. Students at the Vermont campus may
take advantage of an off-site daycare center at
discounted rates.
Time to reflect and engage is built into the Bread Loaf
experience.
6 BLSE
ACADEMICS
Bread Loaf’s interdisciplinary curriculum cultivates expansive
critical and creative thought.
THE MASTER OF ARTS (MA) DEGREE THE MASTER OF LET TER S
The Master of Arts program gives students a (MLIT T) DEGREE
broad exposure to British, American, and world The Master of Letters program allows students
literatures. The curriculum is divided into six to design and explore a specialized concentration
groups: within the Bread Loaf curriculum. Seven of the
10 units required for the degree must be in that
concentration. Although no thesis is required, in
1: Writing, Pedagogy, and Literacy the final summer degree candidates will take a
2: British Literature: Beginnings through comprehensive examination or produce a final
the Seventeenth Century project that covers the course of study.
3: British Literature: Eighteenth Century
CONTINUING GR ADUATE EDUCATION
to the Present
Students may enroll for continuing graduate
4: American Literature education for one or more summers. Students
5: World Literature receive a certificate in continuing education
6: Theater Arts after successful completion of each summer
term. Continuing education students may take
advantage of all that Bread Loaf offers, including
membership in the Bread Loaf Teacher Network,
Degree candidates must complete 10 units, and may elect to pursue a degree, as long as they
including five distributional requirements. No are in good academic standing. Credits earned
master’s thesis is required. Though students have at the School of English will usually transfer to
10 years to complete the degree, they ordinarily other graduate institutions as long as the courses
take two units per summer and finish the degree are not counted toward a Bread Loaf degree.
in four to five summers.
SUMMER 2018 7
8 BLSE
COUR SE LOAD
Each unit is equivalent to three semester hours KEN MACRORIE
or four-and-one-half quarter-hours of graduate WRITING CENTER S
credit. Classes at the U.S. campuses are valued
at one unit each; Oxford classes are valued at Each Bread Loaf campus offers a writing
two units. The normal course load is two units center staffed by trained Bread Loaf
per summer. To complete either degree in four students. The centers were established
years, students may request to transfer up to in honor of Ken Macrorie, a leader in
two graduate courses (credit equivalent of six the field of writing and education. Peer
semester hours or nine quarter-hours) from other readers at each center offer students
accredited institutions.
rich opportunities to develop discipline-
specific writing skills in the context of their
INDEPENDENT WORK
Bread Loaf offers students with exceptional summer work.
academic records opportunities to pursue
independent research as one unit of study: the
Independent Research Project, a yearlong course
of independent research that culminates in STUDENT BODY PROFILE 2017
an 8,000-word essay or creative portfolio; the
Independent Summer Project in Theater Arts, an States represented . . . . . . . . . . .42
independent project in acting, directing, play- Countries represented . . . . . . . . 14
writing, or other theater arts that culminates in a Student-faculty ratio . . . . . . . . . 9:1
summer production; or the Oxford Independent
Students who are teachers . . . . . .80%
Tutorial, a summer tutorial that a student pursues
at the Oxford campus under the guidance of a Students receiving
financial-aid awards . . . . . . . . . .63%
faculty member there.
These opportunities allow students to engage
in sustained and focused research over a period of
six weeks or longer and produce a major project.
Essential to Bread Loaf are your many opportunities to
immerse yourself in research, collaborate with peers, and work
with the finest faculty in their fields.
SUMMER 2018 9TEACHER
THE
NETWORK
Bread Loaf is the only master’s program in English that supports the
professional development of teachers through a groundbreaking network
linking graduate education to K–12 classrooms.
Established in 1993, the Bread Loaf Teacher Students interested in becoming active
Network (BLTN) is a nationally visible net- members in the network are eligible to apply
work of teachers working together to develop for special fellowships that support Bread Loaf
innovative, socially transformative pedagogies. study and year-round work in select states.
Supported by an exceptional team of Bread A complete list of fellowships is available at
Loaf faculty, administrators, and peers, BLTN go.middlebury.edu/specialfunding.
members develop powerful classroom and
community projects based on their Bread Loaf
studies, creating opportunities for their own
students to take the lead as resources and
advocates for social and educational equity and
excellence.
Central to Bread Loaf’s mission and open
to all, BLTN provides teachers the space and
support to work with their peers on multiyear
partnerships that engage students from differ-
ent schools, states, and nations, and that use
creative reading and writing to promote youth
empowerment and voice.
10 BLSELower left and above: Students and mentors engage across differences at a BLTN Next Generation Youth Leadership summit.
BRE AD LOAF TE ACHER NETWORK OUTRE ACH AND IMPACT
■ On the Navajo Nation, Navajo students a Food Literacy curriculum that revolutionizes
are working with BLTN teachers as part of what it means to study English.
a coalition headed by Partners in Health to
serve as advocates for healthy living and ■ In Vermont, BLTN teachers head a youth
eating practices. social action team and a credit-bearing hybrid
course, engaging students from different
■ In Lawrence, Massachusetts, students schools in community-based research and
of BLTN teachers are running after-school multimedia publication.
writing workshops and engaging the
community in the power of the spoken and ■ In partnership with the Ford Foundation,
written word. As a result, college success BLTN is building a learning and leadership
rates in Lawrence have increased 80 percent. network that brings out the voices of
marginalized youth as they advocate for social
■ In Louisville, Kentucky, BLTN teachers are justice and change.
working with colleagues and students to build
SUMMER 2018 11BEYOND THE
CLASSROOM
The Bread Loaf experience includes a range of creative programming
designed to exponentially expand the learning process.
PROGR AM IN THE ATER COCURRICUL AR ACTIVITIES
Complementing Bread Loaf’s courses in theater Throughout the summer, each campus hosts a
arts, in Vermont and New Mexico professional number of lectures, workshops, and readings
actors bring performance into Bread Loaf that complement and enrich the academic cur-
classes as a vehicle for the interpretation of riculum. Speakers include distinguished writers,
poems, plays, narrative, theory, and student scholars, and teachers from within and outside
writing. In Vermont, the Acting Ensemble the Bread Loaf community.
works with students to stage a major theatrical Community life at each campus includes
production. In 2018, Brian McEleney will direct social opportunities, like weekly film show-
an adaptation of Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities. ings and dances, hikes and outings to unique
Rehearsals are open. cultural sites, student-generated sports events
At Bread Loaf/Oxford, we provide tickets or tournaments, coffee houses, musical perfor-
and transportation for all students to see at least mances, and discussion and reading groups. At
one major play. Students may also take a page- our Vermont campus, students have a unique
to-stage course on British theater or join class opportunity to work with master printers and
trips to plays in Oxford, London, or Stratford learn the art and craft of printing on Bread
throughout the summer. Loaf’s newly reanimated letterpresses.
12 BLSEStudents at Bread Loaf/Oxford perform their own
PAST SPE AKER S
adaptation of the three witches scene of Macbeth, and
Julia Alvarez Seamus Heaney a printmaking workshop at Bread Loaf/Vermont calls for
hands-on experience.
John Ashbery Shirley Jackson
Nancie Atwell Jamaica Kincaid
C. L. Barber Tony Kushner
Alison Bechdel Sinclair Lewis
Saul Bellow Archibald MacLeish
John Berryman J. Hillis Miller
Willa Cather N. Scott Momaday
Sandra Cisneros Howard Nemerov
Billy Collins Dorothy Parker
Martin Espada Carl Sandburg
Oskar Eustis Leslie Marmon Silko
Robert Frost Allen Tate
Northrop Frye Natasha Tretheway
Stephen Greenblatt Richard Wilbur
SUMMER 2018 13FEES, FINANCIAL AID,
AND ADMISSION
ELIGIBILIT Y NEW STUDENT APPLICATIONS
Candidates must hold a bachelor’s degree from New students are admitted on a rolling basis
an accredited college to be eligible for admission from December through May, as long as space is
to the Continuing Education or MA programs. available. The application form and instructions
MLitt candidates must hold an MA in English. for the submission of supporting materials are
Exceptional undergraduates are eligible for available at go.middlebury.edu/blseapp.
admission after the completion of three years Applicants who are accepted but are unable to
toward a BA. The Bread Loaf course credits may attend Bread Loaf in the summer for which they
be transferred to students’ home institutions or applied may defer admission for two years.
counted toward a Bread Loaf MA.
Bread Loaf is especially committed to increas- REENROLLMENT
ing diversity in its community; candidates from Returning students should fill out the online
historically underrepresented groups are encour- reenrollment form by early fall. Reenrollments
aged to apply. Members of Bread Loaf’s Students will be processed starting in December. To be eli-
of Color group are available as mentors for gible for reenrollment, students must be in good
students of color before and during the session. academic standing. Students with outstanding
SUMMER 2018 FEES
VE R MONT NEW M E XICO OXFORD
Tuition . . . . . . . . . $5,760 Tuition . . . . . . . . . $5,760 Tuition . . . . . . . . . $5,760
Room and Board . . . $3,130 Room and Board . . . $3,024 Room and Board . . $4,590
Total . . . . . . . . . $8,890 Facility Fees . . . . . . . $206 Facility Fees . . . . . . . $450
Total . . . . . . . . . $8,990 Total . . . . . . . . . $10,800
The cost for taking an additional unit (an independent project, tutorial, or course) is $2,880.
14 BLSEIMPORTANT ADMISSIONS DATES
ROLLING ADMISSIONS
December 11, 2017–May 11, 2018
COU R SE REGISTR ATION
February 19–March 2, 2018
ONLINE APPLIC ATION AVAIL ABILIT Y
July 15, 2017–May 11, 2018
bills due to Middlebury may not reenroll until
the bills are paid. Returning students who have
not attended Bread Loaf in the past 10 years must
submit new application materials.
DEPOSITS AND PAYMENT
Accepted applicants must pay a $400 nonre-
fundable deposit, which will be applied to the merit, and covering a substantial percentage
student’s total bill. Students will not be officially of Bread Loaf costs. Apply as soon as possible.
enrolled in the program or assigned rooms until Students may also apply for loans. Find infor-
this deposit is received. Final bill notifications are mation and applications at go.middlebury.edu/
emailed in April and are payable upon receipt. blseaid.
A late fee will be charged for bills not paid by
June 1, except in cases of late admission. • Special fellowships and scholarships for
Students who withdraw for medical reasons teachers, covering up to $10,000 in Bread
or serious emergencies forfeit the enrollment Loaf tuition, room/board, and travel. See
deposit but may receive a partial refund of the go.middlebury.edu/specialfunding.
tuition and board charges.
• On-campus summer jobs available at the U.S.
FINANCIAL RESOURCES campuses.
Students may be eligible for the following:
• Financial aid in the form of grants, awarded on
the basis of demonstrated need and scholastic
SUMMER 2018 15STUDENT
SUPPORT
MENTORING and in Oxford, student rooms have either wire-
During the year, veteran Bread Loaf students less or direct Ethernet connections. All Bread
are available to answer questions for students Loaf students can connect to BreadNet, our
new to the school or any of its campuses. A internal communications network. We also pro-
Students of Color group meets weekly at our vide access to and training in the use of a range
campuses for peer mentoring and support. of digital tools.
Please contact our admissions director, Dana
Olsen, to find a mentor. SERVICES
The Middlebury Registrar’s Office will provide
TECHNOLOGY AND RESOURCES official transcripts for $5 each. Details are avail-
Computer facilities are available at each campus, able at go.middlebury.edu/transcripts.
but students should bring their own computers, Bread Loaf administration can provide letters
if possible. In Vermont, most dorms and common of recommendation upon request. Details are
spaces have wireless capabilities; in New Mexico available at go.middlebury.edu/blserecs.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Complete information about the academic program, policies governing student life and
conduct, research resources, and financial, medical, and student support is provided within
the Bread Loaf Student Handbook (go.middlebury.edu/blsehandbook) and the Middlebury
College Handbook (go.middlebury.edu/handbook). ALL STU DE NTS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR
K NOWING THE POLICIES AND PROCE DU RES ARTICU L ATE D IN THESE HANDBOOK S .
16 BLSESUMMER 2018 17
BREAD LOAF FACULTY, 2018
DIRECTORS Tyler Curtain, BSc, University of Colorado at Boulder;
Emily Bartels, Director, BA, Yale College; MA, PhD, PhD, Johns Hopkins University. Associate Professor
Harvard University. Professor of English, Rutgers of English and Comparative Literature, University of
University.
North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Lyndon J. Dominique, Associate Director, BA,
Stephen Donadio, BA, Brandeis University; MA, PhD,
University of Warwick; MA, PhD, Princeton
University. Associate Professor of English, Lehigh Columbia University. John Hamilton Fulton Professor
University. of Humanities, Middlebury College.
Ruth Forman, BA, University of California, Berkeley;
AT BREAD LOAF/VERMONT MFA, University of Southern California. VONA/
Isobel Armstrong, FBA, BA, PhD, University of Voices Writing Workshop.
Leicester. Emeritus Professor of English, Geoffrey
Tillotson Chair, and Fellow, Birkbeck College,
John M. Fyler, AB, Dartmouth College; MA, PhD,
University of London, and Senior Research Fellow,
University of California, Berkeley. Professor of
Institute of English Studies, University of London.
English, Tufts University.
Angela Brazil, BA, California State University at
Chico; MFA, University of Iowa. Director of Brown/ David Huddle, BA, University of Virginia; MA,
Trinity MFA Programs in Acting and Directing; Hollins College; MFA, Columbia University. Professor
Resident Acting Company Member, Trinity Repertory Emeritus, University of Vermont.
Company.
Michael R. Katz, BA, Williams College; MA, DPhil,
Brenda Brueggemann, BA, MA, University of University of Oxford. C.V. Starr Professor Emeritus
Kansas; PhD, University of Louisville. Professor and
of Russian and East European Studies, Middlebury
Aetna Chair of Writing, University of Connecticut.
College.
Michael Cadden, BA, Yale College; BA, University
of Bristol; DFA, Yale School of Drama. Chair, Lewis Gwyneth Lewis, BA, University of Cambridge; DPhil,
Center for the Arts, Princeton University. University of Oxford. Former Welsh Poet Laureate;
2014 Bain-Swiggett Visiting Lecturer in Poetry and
Susan Choi, BA, Yale University; MFA, Cornell English, Princeton University.
University. Lecturer in English, Yale University.
Kate Marshall, BA, University of California, Davis;
Dare Clubb, BA, Amherst College; MFA, DFA, Yale
MA, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles.
School of Drama. Associate Professor of Playwriting,
Associate Professor of English, University of Notre
Dramatic Literature, and Theory, University of Iowa.
Dame.
18 BLSEEric D. Pritchard, BA, Lincoln University; MA, Susanne Wofford, BA, Yale College; BPhil, Oxford
PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Assistant University; PhD, Yale University. Dean, the Gallatin
Professor of English, University of Illinois at School of Individualized Study, New York University.
Urbana-Champaign.
Michael Wood, BA, MA, PhD, Cambridge University.
Amy Rodgers, AB, Columbia University; PhD, Charles Barnwell Straut Professor of English and
University of Michigan. Assistant Professor of English Comparative Literature, Emeritus, Princeton
and Film Studies, Mount Holyoke College. University.
Margery Sabin, BA, Radcliffe College; PhD, Harvard Froma Zeitlin, BA, Radcliffe College; MA, Catholic
University. Lorraine Chiu Wang Professor of English University of America; PhD, Columbia University.
and South Asia Studies, Wellesley College. Charles Ewing Professor of Greek Language and
Literature, Emerita; Professor of Comparative
Cheryl Savageau, BS, Clark University; Literature, Emerita, Princeton University.
MA, University of Massachusetts, Amherst. Poet/
Writer/Storyteller/Artist; Editor in Chief,
Dawnland Voices 2.0. AT BREAD LOAF/NEW MEXICO
Lars Engle, On-Site Director, AB, Harvard College;
Michele Stepto, BA, Stanford University; MA, MA, Cambridge University; PhD, Yale University.
San Francisco State University; PhD, University of James G. Watson Professor of English, University of
Massachusetts. Lecturer, Department of English, Tulsa.
Yale University.
Holly Laird, On-Site Director, AB, Bryn Mawr
Robert Stepto, BA, Trinity College, Hartford; MA, College; PhD, Princeton University. Frances W.
PhD, Stanford University. Professor of English, O’Hornett Professor of Literature, University of Tulsa.
African American Studies, and American Studies,
Yale University. Damián Baca, BA, West Texas A&M University;
MA, Northern Arizona University; PhD, Syracuse
Robert Sullivan, AB, Georgetown University. Adjunct University. Associate Professor of English, University
Professor, City University of New York (CUNY) of Arizona.
Macaulay Honors College.
Dennis Denisoff, BA, Simon Fraser University;
Sam Swope, BA, Middlebury College; MA, University MA, PhD, McGill University. McFarlin Professor of
of Oxford. Founder and President, Academy for English, University of Tulsa.
Teachers.
SUMMER 2018 19Jonathan Fried, BA, Brown University; MFA AT BREAD LOAF/OXFORD
University of California, San Diego. Affiliated Faculty, Jeri Johnson, Head Tutor, BA, Brigham Young
Department of Performing Arts, Emerson College. University; MA, MPhil, University of Oxford. Sub-
rector and Peter Thompson Fellow in English, Exeter
Langdon Hammer, BA, Yale College; PhD, Yale College; Lecturer in English, University of Oxford.
University. Professor of English and American Studies,
Yale University. Stephen Berenson, BFA, Drake University. Founding
Director of Brown/Trinity MFA Programs in Acting
Douglas A. Jones Jr., BFA, New York University; and Directing; Professor of the Practice, Brown
PhD, Stanford University. Associate Professor of University; Resident Acting Company Member,
English, Rutgers University. Trinity Repertory Company.
Cruz Medina, BA, University of California, Santa Christine Gerrard, BA, DPhil, University of Oxford;
Barbara; MFA/MA, Chapman University; PhD, MA, University of Pennsylvania. Fellow and Tutor
University of Arizona. Assistant Professor of Rhetoric in English, Lady Margaret Hall; Lecturer in English,
and Composition, Santa Clara University. University of Oxford.
Jeffrey Nunokawa, BA, Yale College; PhD, Cornell Lucy Hartley, BA (Hons), University of Oxford; DPhil,
University. Professor of English, Princeton University. University of York. Professor of English, University of
Michigan.
Simon J. Ortiz, DLitt, University of New Mexico.
Regents Professor of English and American Indian Francis Leneghan, BA, PhD, Trinity College, Dublin.
Studies, Arizona State University. Associate Professor of Old English, University of
Oxford; Fellow of St. Cross College.
Bruce R. Smith, BA, Tulane University; MA, PhD,
University of Rochester. Professor of English, Stuart Sherman, BA, Oberlin College; MA,
University of Southern California. University of Chicago; PhD, Columbia University.
Professor of English, Fordham University.
Jennifer Wicke, BA, University of Chicago; MA, PhD,
Columbia University. Visiting Professor, Department David J. Russell, BA, University of Oxford; PhD,
of English, University of California, Santa Barbara. Princeton University. Associate Professor of English,
University of Oxford; Dean and Tutorial Fellow,
Corpus Christi College.
Mark Turner, BA, Hampden-Sydney College; MA,
PhD, University of London. Professor of English,
King’s College London.
20 BLSEADMINISTRATION STAFF
Emily C. Bartels, Director of the Bread Loaf Dianne Baroz, Assistant to the Bread Loaf Teacher
School of English Network Director; Coordinator of the Oxford Campus
Lyndon Dominique, Associate Director of the Bread Karen Browne, Assistant to the Director; Coordinator
Loaf School of English of the New Mexico Campus
Beverly Moss, Director of the Bread Loaf Teacher Caroline Eisner, Director of BreadNet
Network
Elaine Lathrop, Office Manager; Coordinator
Ceci Lewis, Associate Director of the Bread Loaf of the Vermont Campus
Teacher Network
Tom McKenna, Director of Bread Loaf Teacher
Dixie Goswami, Coordinator of Special Bread Loaf Network Communications
Teacher Network Partnerships
Melissa Nicklaw, Administrative Associate
Brian McEleney, Director of the Program in Theater
and the Bread Loaf Acting Ensemble Dana Olsen, Director of Admissions;
Budget and Communications Manager
Tyler Curtain, Director of Student and Academic
Support Sheldon Sax, Director of Technology
SUMMER 2018 21COURSES
BREAD LOAF/VERMONT
Group 1 (Writing, Pedagogy, and Literacy)
Texts for each course are listed in the
■ 7000 Poetry Workshop: ORDE R IN WHICH THE Y WILL APPE AR on
Poetry of Humanity and Hope the syllabus.
R. Forman/T, Th 2–4:45
In this workshop we will explore poetry of humanity Students should COMPLETE A S MUCH
and hope while incorporating tai chi, qi gong, and RE ADING A S POSSIBLE BE FORE THEIR
communal principles to bring a focused energy of flow
ARRIVAL and bring all required texts to
to one’s writing life. Each session starts with centering
Bread Loaf.
and energetic exercises, engages writing and critique,
and ends with a clearer understanding of writing
technique. Together we will focus on energetic flow
and what this can bring to the page, the discussion of
moving texts/published poems, and critique of student applies to ekphrastic poems—writing that describes
work. Students will regularly engage in exercises visual art. We’ll learn the basics of how to print on
designed to generate new writing, and everyone will Bread Loaf’s letterpress. In conjunction with the
submit a final portfolio of revised work at the end of poems read in each session (provided in class), we
the session. will do writing exercises in and out of class; these will
build up into your own visual-poetic portfolio. No pre-
Texts: Lucille Clifton, Blessing the Boats (BOA); Martín vious experience of poetry or drawing is needed.
Espada, Alabanza (Norton); Patricia Smith, Blood
Dazzler (Coffee House); Kim Addonzio, Ordinary ■ 7005 Fiction Writing
Genius: A Guide for the Poet Within (Norton); Stephen S. Choi/T, Th 2–4:45
Mitchell, Tao Te Ching (Harper Perennial). Additional This workshop will focus on the craft of fiction
readings will be available in the summer. through examination of student work, analysis of
exemplary published works of fiction, and comple-
■ 7001 Poetry and the Graphic Arts tion of exercises spotlighting characterization, plot,
G. Lewis/M, W 2–4:45 narrative voice, dialogue, and description. Students
Poetry is usually considered a time-based art. will be expected to share works in progress, provide
However, since the beginning, it has also drawn on constructive criticism to their fellow writers, gener-
its own existence as a spatial art. This course will ate new work in response to exercises and prompts,
consider the history of poetry that is particularly con- and complete reading assignments. Prior to coming
cerned with its visual presence on the page—through to Bread Loaf, students should read the following
medieval illuminated manuscripts, George Herbert’s short stories from the required text: “First Love and
concrete poems (and, after him, those of Dylan Other Sorrows” by Harold Brodkey, “Jon” by George
Thomas), and William Blake’s marriage of lyric, epic, Saunders, and “The Bear Came Over the Mountain”
and engraving; to Edward Lear and Stevie Smith’s by Alice Munro. Additional works of short fiction will
poems’ dialogues with the poets’ own illustrations, be assigned throughout the session.
up to Ian Hamilton Finlay’s experiments in poems
that appeal to the eye and explore the possibilities of Texts: My Mistress’s Sparrow Is Dead, ed. Jeffrey
graphic poems. We will also consider how this theme Eugenides (Harper Perennial).
22 BLSEVERMONT
■ 7006b Creative Nonfiction Coast, as well as in wherever they call home. We will
G. Lewis/T, Th 2–4:45 study different modes of creative nonfiction but focus
This writing workshop will explore the nature of fact especially on the calendar, the almanac, and the diary,
and how to deploy it in original creative nonfiction. each as a method of examining the landscape as it
What is a fact? Is it an objective truth that cannot relates to time and as a way of examining the idea
be disputed? The word comes from the Latin factum, of nature itself. Readings will include the Georgics,
neuter past participle of facere, “to do.” However, if Walden, selections from J. B. Jackson’s A Sense of Place,
facts are made things, then information belongs to a Sense of Time, and My Emily Dickinson by Susan
the realm of art. To what degree is nonfiction fictional Howe. We will consider connections between the
after all? Each class will combine three elements: visual arts and nonfiction, looking, for example, at
discussion of students’ work, practical exercises to the work of Nancy Holt and her husband, Robert
stimulate new approaches, and short readings (to be Smithson, and we will explore the work of John Cage.
provided). Together we’ll explore the link between the Students will be required to keep a weather log, to
aesthetics and ethics of nonfiction and ask these ques- write numerous short pieces, and to compose weather-
tions: Is it important to tell the truth in nonfiction? If grams, among other things.
so, whose truth?
Texts: Henry David Thoreau, Walden and Other
■ 7006c Creative Nonfiction: The Almanac Writings (Modern Library); Virgil, Virgil’s Georgics,
R. Sullivan/M–Th 9:35–10:50 trans. Janet Lembke (Yale); J. B. Jackson, A Sense
Do we write the world or does the world write us? This of Place, a Sense of Time (Yale); Black Nature: Four
class will examine experimental creative nonfiction Centuries of African American Nature Poetry, ed.
through a consideration of place. Students will be Camille T. Dungy (U. of Georgia); Susan Howe, My
asked to consider their place in various landscapes— Emily Dickinson (New Directions).
in the Green Mountains, in New England, in the East
SUMMER 2018 23■ 7008 Critical Writing ■ 7018 Playwriting
J. Fyler/M–Th 9:35–10:50 D. Clubb/M, W 2–4:45
This course starts from the premise that all writing This course concerns itself with the many ways we
is creative; that the best expository prose engages its express ourselves through dramatic form. An initial
audience’s minds and imaginations. Our workshop consideration of the resources at hand will give way
will offer practice in writing critical essays and some to regular discussions of established structures and
ideas for teaching others how to write them. We will techniques. Members of the class are asked to write a
discuss various ways to generate an idea but will focus scene for each class meeting. Throughout the course
primarily on the processes of revision and rethinking we will be searching for new forms, new ways of
that can transform a first draft into a finished paper. ordering experience, and new ways of putting our own
One of the texts for the course (Maguire and Smith) imaginations in front of us.
offers lively examples of the critical essay in action;
the others present tools for writing and rewriting. ■ 7019 Writing for Children
Some of our work will be in small groups and in indi- M. Stepto and S. Swope/M, W 2–4:45
vidual meetings; some of the writing could involve Stories for children, like stories for adults, come in
reworking critical papers from earlier Bread Loaf many colors, from dark to light, and the best have
courses or papers currently under construction. We in common archetypal characters, resonant plots,
will aim to produce clear thinking and effective and concise, poetic language. Using new and classic
rhetoric, conveyed with the inflections of an texts as inspiration, we will try our hands writing in
individual voice. a variety of forms. The first half of the course will be
a story-generating boot camp; students will write a
Texts: H. D. Fowler, A Dictionary of Modern English rough draft of a new story for each class. In the second
Usage: The classic first edition. (Oxford); Stanley Fish, half, students will continue with new work and, with
How to Write a Sentence, and How to Read One, Reprint an eye to shaping a final project, revise some of what
ed. (Harper, 2012); Richard A. Lanham, Revising they’ve written. We will also add critical readings
Prose, 5th ed. (Pearson); Laurie Maguire and Emma to the mix. Students should come to the first class
Smith, 30 Great Myths about Shakespeare (Wiley- having read Wally’s Stories, The Witches, and “Hansel
Blackwell); Steven Pinker, The Sense of Style: The and Gretel” and “Rapunzel” from the Philip Pullman
Thinking Person’s Guide to Writing in the 21st Century collection. The artistically inclined should bring their
(Viking). art supplies with them to campus. All books for this
class, including the picture books, will be on reserve
■ 7009a & 7009b Multigenre Writing Workshop in the library.
D. Huddle/7009a: M–Th 8:10–9:25/
7009b: M–Th 11–12:15 Texts: Roald Dahl, The Witches (Puffin); Philip
This workshop will emphasize student writing: Pullman, Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm
producing, reading, discussing, and revising short (Penguin); A. A. Milne, The House at Pooh Corner
stories, poems, and essays. Along with reading and (Puffin); William Steig, The Amazing Bone (Square
discussing model compositions, we will write in at Fish); P.D. Eastman, Go, Dog, Go! (Random House);
least two genres each week, and we will spend at least James Barrie, Peter Pan (Puffin); Janet Schulman,
half our class time reading and discussing students’ You Read to Me & I’ll Read to You (Knopf); Virginia
manuscripts. Hamilton, The People Could Fly: American Black
Folktales (Knopf); Beatrix Potter, Peter Rabbit,
Texts: The Georgia Review (spring 2018); the Benjamin Bunny, Squirrel Nutkin, and Jemima Puddle-
Threepenny Review (spring 2018). Journals will be avail- Duck (all Warne); William Steig, Sylvester and the
able through the Middlebury College Bookstore. Magic Pebble (Aladdin); Margaret Wise Brown,
Goodnight Moon (HarperCollins); Wolf Erlbruch,
24 BLSEDeath, Duck, and the Tulip (Gecko); Natalie Babbitt, ■ 7045 Memoir Workshop:
Tuck Everlasting (Square Fish); Molly Bang, The Telling Stories, Finding Meaning
VERMONT
Grey Lady and the Strawberry Snatcher (Aladdin) and C. Savageau/T, Th 2–4:45
Picture This (SeaStar); Jon Klassen, This Is Not My Hat In writing memoir, we are telling stories from our
(Candlewick); Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen, The lives. But how do we decide which ones to tell? And
Dark (Little Brown); Felix Salten, Bambi (Barton); why should anyone care? In this workshop, students
Dr. Seuss, Horton Hatches the Egg (Random House); will practice the art of telling stories to the page, and
Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are and In the begin to develop their storytelling voices. Through
Night Kitchen (both HarperCollins); Gabrielle Vincent, class exercises they will learn how to generate and
A Day, A Dog (Front Street); Mo Willems, Don’t Let organize story ideas, retrieve memories, find thematic
the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Hyperion); Vivian Paley, threads, and use sensory language and narrative strat-
Wally’s Stories (Harvard); Nathaniel Hawthorne, A egies. Readings from successful memoirs will provide
Wonder Book: Heroes and Monsters of Greek Mythology examples of strong voices, the possibilities of form,
(Dover); Carlo Collodi, Pinocchio (Puffin); Neil the struggle for meaning, and how creative storytell-
Gaiman, The Graveyard Book (HarperCollins); E. B. ing and truth intersect. Students will write in response
White, Charlotte’s Web (HarperCollins); I. B. Singer, to exercises and prompts, share work, and provide
Zlateh the Goat and Other Stories (HarperCollins); Kate constructive criticism to fellow writers. Optional:
DiCamillo, Raymie Nightingale (Candlewick). Final public reading.
■ 7040b Holding Place: Texts: The texts will be available in a course packet
Long-Form Writing about Landscape through the Middlebury College Bookstore.
R. Sullivan/M–Th 8:10–9:25
How do writers inhabit a place, and how does a place ■ 7124 Queer Pedagogies in Writing Studies
inhabit their books? In this course, students will E. Pritchard/M–Th 8:10–9:25
examine various literary tools as well as the tools of This course examines studies at the intersections of
the geographer in order to construct their own place- writing studies, LGBTQ studies, and queer theory to
based works or site histories. In working toward that engage, complicate, and contribute to the scholarly
goal, we will look for inspiration in the way selected conversation called “queer pedagogies.” We will begin
books and long-form journalism describe particular with a historiography of how writing instruction and
places, towns, cities, or regions, and we will consider LGBTQ studies began to engage one another. Next,
the ways in which ongoing conversations about that we will turn to studies focused specifically on teacher
place (political, social, environmental) figure into and student identity in writing classrooms. In addition,
the landscape. (This course may also be used to satisfy a we will examine works that have addressed productive
Group 4 requirement.) tensions in queer pedagogies scholarship, with special
attention to texts that help us interrogate the ways
Texts: Tove Jansson, The Summer Book (NYRB); John race, class, citizenship, gender, disability, and other
McPhee, The Pine Barrens and Encounters with the identities corroborate and complicate queer pedago-
Archdruid (both Farrar, Straus and Giroux); Mindy gies. Students will be responsible for regular readings,
Thompson Fullilove, Root Shock (New Village); participation in critical class discussions, a short essay,
Lorraine Anderson, Sisters of the Earth: Women’s Prose and a final project designing a course unit with a
and Poetry about Nature (Vintage). writing assignment wherein they would employ queer
pedagogies in their teaching.
Texts: Harriet Malinowitz, Textual Orientations:
Lesbian and Gay Students and the Making of Discourse
SUMMER 2018 25Communities (Heinemann); Mollie Blackburn, Texts: Bill Roorbach, Writing Life Stories: How to Make
Interrupting Hate: Homophobia in Schools and What Memories into Memoirs, Ideas into Essays, and Life into
Literacy Can Do About It (Teachers College). A course Literature, 2nd ed. (Writer’s Digest); Mike Rose, Lives
packet of select articles and book chapters will be on the Boundary (Penguin); Frank McCourt, Teacher
available through the Middlebury College Bookstore. Man (Scribner); Julie Schumacher, Dear Committee
Members (Anchor); The Teacher’s Body: Embodiment,
■ 7148 Literacy Education and American Film Authority, and Identity in the Academy, ed. Diane
E. Pritchard/T, Th 2–4:45 Freedman and Martha Stoddard Holmes (SUNY);
This course centers on this question: How can What I Didn’t Know: True Stories of Becoming a Teacher,
cinematic narratives of literacy education help us ed. Lee Gutkind (In Fact).
to transform as teachers and individuals inside and
outside of the classroom? We will explore some of the
meanings of literacy by scholars who define it through Group 2 (British Literature: Beginnings
historical, political, and cultural contexts, alongside through the 17th Century)
films that depict literacy education in relationship
to identity and difference. Students will write short ■ 7210 Chaucer
critical essays that will be the basis on which we begin J. Fyler/M–Th 8:10–9:25
critical discussions of issues raised by course readings This course offers a study of the major poetry of
and films. These essay assignments will also provide Geoffrey Chaucer. We will spend roughly two-thirds
opportunities to explore implications for our teaching of our time on the Canterbury Tales and the other third
and learning experiences in relationship to contempo- on Chaucer’s most extraordinary poem, Troilus and
rary debates regarding critical literacies, social justice Criseyde. Chaucer is primarily a narrative rather than
education, and critical race, feminist, and LGBTQ a lyric poet: though the analogy is an imperfect one,
pedagogies in reading and writing instruction. The the Canterbury Tales is like a collection of short stories,
course will deepen the students’ knowledge base, and Troilus like a novel in verse. We will talk about
teaching philosophies, and classroom practices by Chaucer’s literary sources and contexts, the interpre-
employing film to explore the infinite complexities, tation of his poetry, and his treatment of a number of
contradictions, contestations, possibilities, and issues, especially gender, that are of perennial interest.
rewards of literacy education in our lives. (This course
may also be used to satisfy a Group 4 requirement.) Texts: The Riverside Chaucer, ed. L. D. Benson (Oxford
or Houghton Mifflin); Boethius, The Consolation of
Texts: bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress (Routledge). Philosophy, trans. Richard Green (Martino); Woman
A course packet of select articles and reviews will be Defamed and Woman Defended, ed. Alcuin Blamires
available through the Middlebury College Bookstore. (Oxford); Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde, ed. Stephen
Barney (Norton).
■ 7151 Teaching, Writing, Publishing
B. Brueggemann/M–Th 11–12:15 ■ 7230 The Faerie Queene
Teaching about writing and writing about teaching: S. Wofford/M, W 2–4:45
these two have strong crossings (and, of course, This course offers an immersive introduction to
much meaning in the life of Bread Loaf teachers). In The Faerie Queene in its wider literary and political
this course we will explore this chiasmus (crossing) contexts, including selections from classical and
between teaching and writing through a journey into Renaissance epic (Vergil, Ovid, Ariosto, Tasso); and
many genres: fiction, nonfiction (memoir and essay); questions emerging from Reformation religion and/
teaching lesson plans; interviews; poetry; and even or Elizabethan politics. Some reading in theories of
guides for writing a teaching statement/philosophy. allegory and ideology will complement our focus on
Our goal is also to publish writing about teaching. the poem as epic. We will also look more briefly at
26 BLSEthe visual tradition of representing epic and romance, Tale, and The Tempest. Evening showings of the perfor-
including mythological paintings, emblem books, mance-based texts will be arranged. (This course may
VERMONT
iconography, and Renaissance mythography (Cartari, also be used to satisfy a Group 3 requirement.)
Conti, and others). We will rethink the convergences
and divergences of epic, allegory, and romance as they Texts: William Shakespeare, Othello (any modern ed.);
help to shape questions of gender, nation, ideology, Lolita Chakrabarti, Red Velvet (Methuen); Felicity
and ethics. In preparation for the first class meeting, Kendal, White Cargo: A Memoir (Penguin); William
students should read only the first two cantos of Book Shakespeare, The Winter’s Tale (any modern ed.);
One and the Letter to Raleigh (found in the back or Jeanette Winterson, The Gap of Time (Hogarth);
front of the book). William Shakespeare, The Tempest (any modern ed.);
Margaret Atwood, Hag-Seed (Hogarth).
Required Texts: (1) The Faerie Queene, ed. A. C.
Hamilton (Longman). The second edition, published Films: James Ivory, Shakespeare Wallah (1965); Vishal
in 2001 by Pearson Education/Longman and repub- Bhardwaj, Omkara (2006); Christopher Wheeldon
lished by Routledge in 2007, is preferable. The first and Joby Talbot, The Winter’s Tale (Ballet, 2015);
edition is also acceptable. (2) We will read significant Thomas Adès, The Tempest (Opera, 2004); Peter
selections of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. I recommend the Wellington, Slings and Arrows (Season One, 2003).
translation by A. D. Melville, in the Oxford World
Classics Series, or the bilingual English-Latin in the ■ 7254 Shakespeare and the Politics of Hatred
revised Loeb Library. The Metamorphoses is available A. Rodgers/M–Th 11–12:15
online in many different English translations and in This course approaches Shakespeare’s plays via three
Latin, but it is nice to have the whole book in your principal perspectives. First, we will work closely
hands. with Shakespeare’s canvas—his language—in order
to gain a greater understanding of his craft and
Recommended texts: (1) Angus Fletcher, Allegory: medium. Second, we will cultivate an understanding
Theory of a Symbolic Mode. I will make assigned of the role of the early modern professional stage,
selections available to the class, but you may want and Shakespearean stage in particular, as a venue
easy access to more. (2) I also recommend three texts for cultural critique and ideological reinforcement of
from Routledge’s New Critical Idiom series: Jeremy early modern English cultural biases, anxieties, and
Tambling, Allegory (2010); Barbara Fuchs, Romance instabilities. Finally, we will consider how and why
(2004); Paul Innes, Epic (2013). These short guides are Shakespeare still speaks to us as audiences, readers,
very useful teaching tools as well. and scholars in the 21st century. To provide a tighter
focal lens for these endeavors, we will explore the
■ 7250 Shakespearean Afterlives plays we read largely through a particular analytic—
M. Cadden/M–Th 8:10–9:25 that of hatred—that still plays a significant role in our
This course will focus primarily on some of own world some 400 years later. Plays include Romeo
Shakespeare’s “afterlives” of the past 20 years. and Juliet, Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night’s
Although his reputation rests on his work, Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, The Merchant of
Shakespeare was invented in the 18th century as Venice, Macbeth, Othello, and The Tempest.
something beyond a “mere” playwright. We’ll take a
brief look at the start of this phenomenon with David Texts: The Norton Shakespeare, 3rd ed., ed. Stephen
Garrick’s Stratford Jubilee in 1769, then study some Greenblatt, et. al. (Norton); The Bedford Companion to
recent recycling of “the Shakespearean” in theater, Shakespeare, 2nd ed., ed. Russ McDonald (Bedford/
film, fiction, dance, opera, television, actors’ autobiog- St. Martin’s).
raphies, and theatrical institutions and festivals. Our
key Shakespeare texts will be Othello, The Winter’s
SUMMER 2018 27■ 7273 Disability and Deformity used to describe a psychological state until the 19th
in British Literature century, Macbeth’s query suggests that premodern
B. Brueggemann/M, W 2–4:45 subjects both understood and experienced the sorts
Literature of all cultures and histories is rife (and of psychic injury the term denotes. Our overarching
ripe) with representations of disability and/or defor- goal as a class will be to address this question: How
mity—once we know how to look for it. But why, and was trauma understood, expressed, and represented in
how, does the condition of the body—infirm or whole, premodern European culture? Primary material will
crippled or complete, abnormal or extraordinary—matter include Foxe’s Book of Martyrs (selections), selections
in literature? Using the lens of critical disability stud- from Boccaccio’s The Decameron, Thomas More’s
ies applied to British literature, we will explore this prison letters, Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy,
primary question. Beginning with Chaucer’s Wife of William Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Macbeth, Thomas
Bath and Shakespeare’s Richard III, we will consider Middleton’s The Revenger’s Tragedy, and Daniel
the following primary questions (and surely more): Defoe’s History of the Plague in London. A variety of
How do ideas about disability and deformity in British theoretical readings on trauma will also be assigned.
literature create and then enforce the divide between
“normality” and “abnormality”? What are the plots, Texts: Sigmund Freud, The Freud Reader, ed. Peter Gay
metaphors, and character moves that disability/defor- (Norton); Aphra Behn, Oronooko (Penguin); Cathy
mity makes in this literature? What did it mean to Caruth, Unclaimed Experience: Trauma, Narrative, and
“have a body” (deformed, disabled, and “normal” as History (Johns Hopkins); Daniel Defoe, A Journal of
well) and how are these bodily forms expressed in this the Plague Year, ed. John Berseth (Dover); William
literature? How does genre (form)—drama, poetry, Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus (any ed.); William
essay/memoir, fiction—matter in the representation Shakespeare, Hamlet (any ed.); John Webster, The
and interpretation/reception of a disabled body in lit- Duchess of Malfi, ed. Kathy Casey (Dover).
erature? (This course may also be used to satisfy a Group
3 requirement.)
Group 3 (British Literature: 18th Century to
Texts: William Hay, On Deformity: An Essay, ed. the Present)
Kathleen James-Cavan (English Literary Studies);
William Shakespeare, Richard III, ed. Barbara A. ■ 7250 Shakespearean Afterlives
Mowat and Paul Werstine (Simon & Schuster/Folger); M. Cadden/M–Th 8:10–9:25
Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in See description under Group 2 offerings.
the Night–Time (Vintage); Bernard Pomerance, The
Elephant Man: A Play (Grove); Charlotte Brontë, ■ 7273 Disability and Deformity
Jane Eyre (Penguin); Nina Raine, Tribes (Nick in British Literature
Hern); Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden, B. Brueggemann/M, W 2–4:45
Centennial ed. (Signet); David Lodge, Deaf Sentence See description under Group 2 offerings.
(Penguin).
■ 7361 Interpreting Great Expectations
■ 7275 Trauma in the Premodern World I. Armstrong/M–Th 9:35–10:50
A. Rodgers/M, W 2–4:45 After a close reading of the text of Great Expectations,
When Lady Macbeth’s doctor tells her husband that we will collaborate as groups on the following as ways
he cannot cure her madness, Macbeth asks: “Canst of interpreting Dickens’s novel: artwork, photography,
thou not minister to a mind diseased, / Pluck from sound, movement. We will aim to produce a final
memory a rooted sorrow, / Raze out the written exhibition of our work. You will keep a course diary,
troubles of the brain?” Although “trauma” was not and there will be a critical essay at the end of the
28 BLSEcourse. If you like to work in groups and share discus- regional, ethnic, and religious groups; the complexi-
sion, and are happy with taking intellectual risks with ties of emigration to a newly prominent diaspora and a
VERMONT
nonformal ways of interpreting literature, this will be literary class trying to sustain dual (or cosmopolitan)
a productive course for you. But remember that these identity; the increasing challenges to English as a lit-
forms of interpretation are exacting. erary language for representing non-English-speaking
peoples; and new variations of older conflicts about
Texts: Charles Dickens, Great Expectations, Deluxe ed. the status of women in South Asian society, especially
(Penguin). women as represented by women writers themselves.
We will begin with the most notable English writers
■ 7453 Modern British and American Poetry directly engaged with British India in the late colonial
M. Wood/M–Th 8:10–9:25 period: Kipling, E. M. Forster, and Orwell. We will
W. H. Auden said poetry makes nothing happen, and then jump forward to the impressive repertory of
Marianne Moore said she disliked it. Other modern English-language writing from the postcolonial period,
poets have had other doubts and complaints. This with attention also to equally impressive short stories
course will consider six American and British poets translated from Bengali and from Urdu. We will
who have in their different ways sought to give poetry conclude with some attention to the preoccupations of
a hard time. Poetry will no doubt be all the better for more contemporary writing. This course moves fast,
the ordeal, and that possibility too will be part of our so it is crucial to do a substantial amount of reading
subject, along with some of the historical and social before arrival, at least A Passage to India, Clear Light
reasons for the worry, and some of the things that of Day, and Kartography. Specific assignments in some
happen because of poetry after all. (This course may shorter primary texts and some critical reading will
also be used to satisfy a Group 4 requirement.) be available in the summer. The text of Pinjar may be
hard to find other than in slightly used copies ordered
Texts: Marianne Moore, Complete Poems (Penguin); W. online. A film from this translated text will accom-
H. Auden, Collected Poems (Vintage); John Berryman, pany the reading. (This course may also be used to satisfy
Collected Poems (Farrar, Straus and Giroux); J. H. a Group 5 requirement.)
Prynne, Poems (Bloodaxe); Claudia Rankine, Citizen
(Graywolf); Jorie Graham, Fast (Ecco). Texts: Rudyard Kipling, Selected Stories (Penguin);
E. M. Forster, A Passage to India (Mariner); Anita
■ 7455 Fiction of Empire and Its Aftermath in Desai, Clear Light of Day (Mariner); Amrita Pritam,
Modern South Asia Pinjar: The Skeleton and Other Stories (Tara); Amitav
M. Sabin/T, Th 2–4:45 Ghosh, Shadow Lines (Mariner); Saadat Hasan Manto,
Some of the most compelling modern and contempo- Kingdom’s End: Selected Stories (Penguin); Kamila
rary writers have come from the areas of South Asia Shamsie, Kartography (Bloomsbury); Mohsin Hamid,
formerly known as British India. In avoiding the now How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (Riverhead Books).
outdated but still common term postcolonial as a frame
for their work, this course means to explore how
new literary representations of past and present have Group 4 (American Literature)
changed along with the societies themselves during
the now 70-plus years since independence in the sub- ■ 7040b Holding Place: Long-Form Writing about
continent. Our discussions will address the following Landscape
complex (and often controversial) issues shaping the R. Sullivan/M–Th 8:10–9:25
forms as well as the content of the literature: the See description under Group 1 offerings.
emergence of a new indigenous plutocracy to replace
colonial elites; new and continuing schisms between
SUMMER 2018 29You can also read
