E 360L: Literature of the Indian Subcontinent
Instructor: Brian Doherty Parlin 326 Phone:471-8798
Hours: M. 10-11, 3-4. W. 10-11

Required Texts:
Mirrorwork: 50 Years of Indian Writing: 1947-1997.
Picador Book of Modern Indian Writing. Amrit Chauduri, ed.
Rohinton Mistry. Family Matters.
R.K. Narayan. The Mahabharata: A Shortened Modern Prose Version    
Arundhatai Roy. The God of Small Things.

Course Requirements:
Participation in Class Discussions.                         15%
Reading Quizzes. Best 6 of 8 grades.                    15%
Brief Presentation on History, Culture, Biography. 10%
Short paper on experiencing India in Austin           10%      Find out about events.
Paper # 1. (3-4 pages).                                         20%
Final Paper. (4-5 pages)                                        30%

Schedule of Readings:
August 25: Intro. to class and each other. Go over syllabus, grading policy
27: Discuss dueling intro’s—Mirrorwork and Picador.

Part One: Importance of Myth in Understanding Culture
30: Beginnings of Indian Mythology. The Mahabharata. Anthology intros. (elec. Reserves). Narayan: Intro and chapter One. (to pg. 11.)
Sept. 1: Narayan’s The Mahabharata. Chapters 2 through 7, (to pg. 70).
3: Narayan’s The Mahabharata. Chapters 8 through 13 (to pg. 144).

8: Finish The Mahabharata.
10: Screening of Peter Brook’s The Mahabharata. Discussion of film on discussion Board (Blackboard).

13: Debate on Peter Brook. Essays on elec. Reserves.
15: The other myth. The Ramayana. Electronic Reserves.
17: The other myth. The Ramayana. Electronic Reserves

Part Two: Short Readings in Modern Indian Literature
20: “The Bengal Renaissance and After.” Michael Madhusudan Dutt (3-11). Rabindranath Tagore (26-45).
22: Screening of Satyajit Ray’s Pather Panchali. Discussion of film on discussion Board (Blackboard).
24: Bibhuti Bhushan Banerjee, from Pather Panchali (66-88). Mahashweta Devi, “Arjun.” ((122-130).

27: “Hindi.” Premchand, “The Chess Players,” “The Shroud,” “The Road to Salvation.”
29: Nirmal Verma, “Terminal;” Krishna Sobti, from Ai Ladki.
October 1: “Urdu.” Sadat Hassan Manto, “Peerun,” and “The Black Shalwar.” Plus, from Mirrorwork, “Toba Tek Singh.”

4: Note. Open Day in anticipation for a visit from Rakesh Sharma, director of Final Solution. This visit may be other than the 4th; we will slide reading/discussion days accordingly.
6: Qurratulain Hyder and Naiyer Masud. (205-36)
8: U.R. Anantha Murthy, “A Horse for the Sun” (239-65). Ambai, “Gifts.” (298-305).

11: R.K. Narayan, from The English Teacher (375-396) and “Fellow Feeling.” (100-06).
13: Screening of Deepa Mehta’s Earth.
15: Discussion of Earth. Bapsi Sidwa, “Ranna’s Story.”

18: G.V. Desani. “All About H. Hatterer.” (32-58)
20: Salman Rushdie. (featured in both anthologies).
22: Vikram Seth (featured in both anthologies).

25: Amitav Ghosh (featured in both anthologies).
27: Anita Desai, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, and Kirin Desai.
Part Three: Two Major Novels
29: Student Reports. Arundhati Roy’s India. Arundhati Roy. The God of Small Things. “Paradise Pickles and Preserves.”

Nov. 1: “Pappachi’s Moth through “Big Man the Laltain, Small Man the Mombatti.”
3: “Abhilash Talkies” through “Wisdom Exercise Notebooks.”
5: “Welcome Home, Our Sophie Mol” through Kochu Thomban.”

8: “The Pessimist and the Optimist” through “Saving Ammu.”
10: The God of Small Things to conclusion.
12: Rohinton Mistry, “The Collectors.”

15: Rohinton Mistry. Family Matters. Chapters 1-3 (to 63).
17: Rohinton Mistry. Family Matters. Chapters 4-6 (to 118)
19: Rohinton Mistry. Family Matters. Chapters 7-9 (to 184)

22: Rohinton Mistry. Family Matters. Chapters 10-12 (to 240)
24: Rohinton Mistry. Family Matters. Chapters 13-15. (to 286)

29: Rohinton Mistry. Family Matters. Chapters 16-19. (to 366).
December 1: Rohinton Mistry. Family Matters. To conclusion,
3: The last class day, where we wrap everything up in a neat little bundle. All problems with the literature of the sub-continent solved!