And you had the chance to sign up for a course on Latin American literature, would you be totally bummed if it were all Latin American essays?
Essentially the course will examine concept of America from the perspective of those Americans that speak and read Spanish. Were I to move beyond the essay, I could include a fabulous novel The Lost Steps And possibly some Neruda, mainly Canto General stuff and Pedro Mir’s Countersong to Walt Whitman
It would depend on what I thought I was signing up for, I think. If I had planned on a survey, I’d be expecting a survey with poems and essays and fictions. If I had planned on an elective that was teacher’s discretion, well, essays would be fine!
Personally, I’d probably appreciate the class (as an English major, of course) more if it were approached not only as a reading course, but also one that took on the essay as a form. Perhaps invited a bit of practicum into the literary study.
by greg—Jul 26, 06:38 AM
oh, yeah, were it to be an essay class, we’d study the form and we’d work on writing essays (not necessarily, though, literary analysis)
by Jeremy—Jul 26, 06:59 AM
In that case, I think the essays should work. You should probably include at least one long essay collection, memoir, or travel narrative. (Which is advice, of course, that you don’t need me to tell you…)
by greg—Jul 26, 08:00 AM