ENGL 22011 - James Baldwin & Toni Morrison

Course Credit: 1
(AFST, CMLT, WGSS)
James Baldwin and Toni Morrison James Baldwin and Toni Morrison are certainly two of the most significant authors of the 20th century. This course allows an intense study of their major works, including novels, theatre, short stories, essays, and literary critics’ responses to them all. We’ll explore answers to questions such as the following: What constitutes African American community, as well as larger U.S. and global communities? How are race, class, gender, and sexuality intersecting in our selected texts? In what ways are Baldwin and Morrison using jazz and the blues, critiquing whiteness, and otherwise unraveling societal politics? How are Baldwin and Morrison speaking to or against one another? Texts may include Baldwin’s The Fire Next Time; If Beale Street Could Talk; Just Above My Head; Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone; or, Giovanni’s Room, among others, and, Morrison’s Love; Beloved; Playing in the Dark; Tar Baby; or, Song of Solomon, among others. Interviews and documentary films will be analyzed, and some visual art may be considered. [AH]