take me home | seminar : american identities

reading list

mastercopies of the core texts, essays, poetic and dramatic works are on the reserved shelf.

~ "core" reading
~ literary texts ("local variations")
~ literary criticism
~ suggestions for further reading


 

"core" reading

 

i.
  • crèvecoeur, hector st. john de. letters from an american farmer. london: dutton, 1962 (chapter iii, 39-68).
  • gleason, philip. "american identity and americanization". harvard encyclopedia of american ethnic groups. cambridge: harvard up, 1980. 31-58
  • maier, pauline. american scripture : making the declaration of independence. new york: knopf, 1997 (189-208).

ii.
  • borjas, george j. friends or strangers : the impact of immigrants on the u.s. economy. new york: basic books, 1990 (pages 26-55).
  • howells, w.d., a hazard of new fortunes. bloomington : indiana up, 1976 (chapter x, 69-77).
  • portes, alejandro, and min zhou. "should immigrants assimilate?" the public interest summer 1994: 18-33.

iii.
  • ezorsky, gertrude. racism and justice: the case for affirmative action. ithaca, cornell up, 1992 (chapters 1, 9-27; 7, 132-133).
  • hacker, andrew. "goodbye to affirmative action?" new york review. 11 july 1996 : 21-29.
  • minow, martha. making "all" the difference : inclusion, exclusion and american law. ithaca : cornell up, 1990 (introduction, 1-16; afterword, 373-389).

iv.
  • robertson, roland. globalization : social theory and global culture. london : sage, 1992 (chapter 3, 49-60)
  • sollors, werner. "of plymouth rock and jamestown and ellis island--or, ethnic literature and some redefinitions of 'america'". multiculturalism and the canon of american culture. ed. hans bak. amsterdam : vu up, 1993. 272-311.

(v.)
  • paz, octavio. "The pachuco and other extremes". the labyrinth of solitude. 1951. new york : grove, 1985. 9-28.
  • garcía canclini, nestor. "hybrid cultures, oblique powers." hybrid cultures : strategies for entering and leaving modernity. minneapolis : u of minnesota p, 1995. 206-263.


literary texts

go to the beginning of the reading list
the links to bookstores and editors in the list are not meant as an indication to order the books by yourselves, but should give you a rough idea about the texts we are going to read and discuss. as soon as i know the aproximate number of participants, i will do a bulk order. should you already have a book or prefer to order it on your own, please let me know.

narrative

poetry

  • laviera, tato. amerícan. houston : arte público, 1981. mastercopy
  • second poetry collection tba

theater

  • valdez, luis. early works : actos, bernabé and pensamiento serpentino. houston : arte publico, 1990. 17-52. the three short plays las dos caras del patroncito (1965), quinta temporada (1966), and los vendidos (1967). mastercopy.
  • piñero, miguel. the sun always shines for the cool. 1977. nuevos pasos : chicano and puerto rican drama. nicolás kanellos and jorge a. huerta, eds. houston : arte público, 1989. 173-204. mastercopy.


literary criticism

go to the beginning of the reading list

only the texts that are mandatory reading for the seminar are listed.

  • gutiérrez, ramón. "lusting for power: richard rodriguez and the political language of white men." gender, self, and society. proceedings of the iv international conference on the hispanic cultures of the united states. renate von bardeleben, ed. frankfurt am main: peter lang, 1993. 383-393.
  • kaup, monika. "crossing borders : an aesthetic practice in writings by gloria anzaldúa." cultural difference & the literary text : pluralism & the limits of authenticity in north american literatures. winfried siemerling and katrin schwenk, eds. iowa city : u of iowa p, 1996. 100-111.


suggestions for further reading

go to the beginning of the reading list

autobiography

  • rodríguez, richard. days of obligation : an argument with my mexican father. new york : penguin, 1992.

novel

  • muñoz, elias miguel. crazy love. houston : arte publico, 1989.

criticism

  • arteaga, alfred. chicano poetics : heterotexts and hybridities. cambridge : cambridge up, 1997.
  • calderón, héctor and josé david saldívar, eds. criticism in the borderlands : studies in chicano literature, culture, and ideology. durham : duke up, 1991.
  • gutiérrez-jones, carl. rethinking the borderlands : between chicano culture and legal discourse. berkeley : u of california p, 1995.
  • kanellos, nicolás. mexican american theater : legacy and reality. pittsburgh : latin american literary review, 1987.

an excellent introduction to the history of u.s. hispanic literatures :

  • gutiérrez, ramón, and genaro padilla, eds. recovering the u.s. hispanic literary heritage. houston: arte público, 1993.

latin american classics on america, the united states, culture contact, and identity :

  • martí, josé. our america. 1881
  • rodó, josé enrique. ariel. 1900. austin: u of texas p, 1988.
  • fernández retamar, roberto. "caliban: notes toward a discussion of culture in our america."1971. caliban and other essays. minneapolis: u of minnesota p, 1989.

follow-up readings to our gleason discussion of november 11

  • sollors, werner. beyond ethnicity: consent and descent in american culture. new york : oxford up, 1986.
  • sollors, werner, ed. the invention of ethnicity. new york : oxford up, 1989.
  • siemerling, winfried, and katrin schwenk, eds. cultural difference and the literary text. iowa : u of iowa p, 1996.

 

ernst rudin ||| 12-11-2000 | ernst rudin