Master's Thesis |
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Butler, Maia L. Bachelor of Arts, University of Alaska at Anchorage, Fall 2010; Master of Arts, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Fall 2012 Major: English Title of Thesis: Re-viewing Literary History: Teaching Toni Morrison’s A Mercy and William Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom! as Revisions of the Master Narrative Thesis Director: Dr. Yung-Hsing Wu Pages in Thesis: 96; Words in Abstract: 253 ABSTRACT This work is a theoretical inquisition into possible methodology for exploring with students the literary revision work that William Faulkner and Toni Morrison undertake in their novels Absalom, Absalom! (1936) and A Mercy (2008). I conceive of the pairing of these works as a unit in an upper-level undergraduate literature course, and have organized the body of this work around approaches to engaging the constructions of race and class and of gender power in these novels. I imagine that an effective teaching style will match the textual style of the authors, both in the environment of the classroom and on the course blog designed for electronic drafting, peer discussion and peer reviewing. I also describe several engaging writing activities for the classroom, and suggest potential prompts for longer written assignments. Situating my discourse in the context of Elaine Showalter and bell hooks’ pedagogical theory, I envision the teacher as a narrator and as a proponent of engaged pedagogy. In this way, the teacher creates places and spaces for the students to contribute to setting course outcomes, and to make meaning of the texts and the classroom discussion, rather than being recipients of lecture. Finally, this informs a conception of the students in the classroom producing a “text” of the classroom discourse and blog work, and argues that a fruitful way for the class to conclude this unit would be to conceptualize the text produced as involved in a conversation with those of Faulkner and Morrison, just as they are conversation with each other. |
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