B.A. English Literature| 6th Semester Syllabus| 3rd Year| Student Admitted prior to 2020 - 2021| University of Madras

 B.A. ENGLISH LITERATURE

(Syllabus for Student Admitted prior to 2020 - 2021)

SIXTH SEMESTER

Semester VI - Core Paper – XIII - Contemporary Literature

Unit-1: Introduction

➢    Multiculturalism,

➢    Diasporic Writing

➢    Displacement and Alienation and Identity crisis

➢    Theme of Acculturation, Assimilation, Globalisation, Hybridity

Unit-2: Prose

1. Joseph Anton - A Memoir: An Extract-

Chap. II – Manuscripts Don’t Burn (Paragraph beginning: “On the day he received the bound proofs of The Satanic Verses.......” Paragraph ending “It was Valentine’s Day”)

2. The Bomb and I - Arundathi Roy

3.  The Medicine Bag - Virginia Driving Hawk Sneve

4.   The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World - Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

5.   Unaccustomed Earth - Jhumpa Lahiri

Unit 3: Poetry

1.    Black Berry Picking - Seamus Heaney

2.    A Far Cry from Africa - Derek Walcott

3.    Hamlet - Wole Soyinka

4.    I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings - Maya Angelou

Unit 4 Drama - Harvest- Manjula Padmanabhan

Unit  5: Fiction - Life of Pi - Yann Martel

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Core Paper – XIV :Post-Colonial Literature in English II: Canadian Literature

Unit-1: Introduction

➢   Post-Colonial Literature

➢   Origins of Canadian Literature

➢   Oral traditions including myths, folklore, and legends

➢   The First Nations: Native Literature

➢   Colonization and the Colonizers: British and French and economically colonized by the Americans

➢   The Garrison mentality as a common theme in Canadian literature

➢   Recent developments and mainstream writers.

Unit-2: Prose

1. Godzilla vs. Post-Colonial – Thomas King

 2. Disunity as Unity: A Canadian Strategy - Robert Kroetsch

Unit-3: Poetry

1. First Neighbours – P K Page

2. Indian Reservation: Caughnawaga – A M Klein

3. The Cattle Thief – Emily Pauline Johnson

4. Like an Old Proud King in a Parable – A J M Smith

Unit-4 : Drama

The Ecstasy of Rita Joe – George Ryga

Unit -5: Short Stories and Fiction

1. Face – Alice Munro

2. “The Hostelry of Mr Smith” (Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town) – Stephen Leacock

3. Cannibal Woman – Ron Geyshick

     Fiction

4. The Edible Woman – Margaret Atwood

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Semester VI -Core Paper – XV: Shakespeare

Unit-1: Introduction

➢    The Age of Shakespeare

➢    Life of Shakespeare,

➢    Shakespearean theatre

➢    Shakespearean audience,

➢    Shakespearean players,

➢    Shakespeare Canon,

➢    Shakespeare’s Texts: Quartos and Folios,

➢    Shakespeare and Classical conventions,

➢    Shakespearean comedies, tragedies, histories, romances, problem-plays,

Unit-2: Tragedy - Macbeth

Unit-3: Comedy - Twelfth Night

Unit-4: History - Richard II

Unit-5: Critical Essays

1.    “From Hamlet to Lear” from Shakespeare in a Changing World – Arnold Kettle

2.    “On the Tragedies of Shakespeare” – Charles Lamb from The English Critical Tradition – Ed. S. Ramaswami & V.S. Sethuraman (Vol. I)

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Semester VI: Elective Paper-II - World Literature in Translation

 Unit-1: Introduction

➢    Goethe’s concept of World literature

➢    Tragedy of Fate

➢    French Revolution

➢    Realistic drama of Ibsen and Chekhov

➢    Multiculturalism

➢    Realism

➢    Concept of the Absurd

➢    Postmodernism

Unit-2: Poetry

1.    The Gate of Hell : Canto III (Inferno) - Dante Alighieri

2.    Ithaca- Constantine Petrou Cavafy

3.    The Burning of the Books- Bertolt Brecht

4.    Lot’s Wife- Anna Akhmatova

5.    The End and the Beginning- Wislava Szymborska

Unit-3: Drama - Oedipus Rex – Sophocles

Unit-4: Short Stories

1.The Guest-Albert Camus

2. The Convert - Guy de Maupassant

3. A Christmas Tree and a Wedding - Fyodor Dostoyevsky

4.One Autumn Night - Maxim Gorky

5.The Blizzard - Alexander Pushkin

6.The Fairy Amoureuse– Emile Zola

Unit-5: Fiction - The Count of Monte Cristo – Alexander Dumas

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Semester VI: Elective Paper – III: Journalism

Unit-1: Introduction

➢    Introduction to Journalism

➢    A Short History of Journalism in India

➢    Ethics of Journalism

Unit-2: The Press

➢    Freedom of Press and Threats to Press Freedom

➢    The Government and the Press

➢    Press Laws: Defamation, Libel, Contempt of Court, Slander, Copyright Laws, Press Regulation Act, Press Registration Act, Law of Privileges

Unit-3: Reporting News

➢    Role of the Reporter and the Editor

➢    Types of News Reports – Straight, Interpretive, Investigative, Scoop, Sting

➢    Headlines - Editorial, Feature Writing, Personal Column, Reviews, Interviews and Press Conferences

➢    Reporting – News Values, Human Interest, Story Angle, Obituaries

Unit-4: Layouts, Advertising and News Agencies

➢    Make-up of a newspaper - Editing, Proof-Reading

➢    Photographic Journalism, Cartoons, News Agencies, Press Council of India

➢    Advertisements – Types and Social Responsibility

Exercises - Editing, Proof-reading, Feature Writing, News Reporting, Planning Interviews and Reviews

Unit 5: Electronic and New Media

➢    Electronic Media- Radio, Television

➢    Emergence of New Age Media-Definition & Conceptualization of New Media, Future of New Media

➢    Ethics and Social Responsibilities of New Media