SPECIAL TOPICS IN AMERICAN STUDIES IN ENGLISH 2

概要

In this class, we will read essays and interviews by and/or with American author and translator Paul Auster, as collected in The Red Notebook. The title of this volume is a reference to the "red notebook" found in Auster's first published novel (part of a trilogy of short novels), "City of Glass." Here, it is a place where we may find what might be called "Creative Non-Fiction" essays (as well as interviews), though some of the tales that are told in the first part of the book are truly "unbelievable" (or nearly unbelievable at times). We will find many of the same themes that are prevalent in Auster's purely "fictitious" novels here as well, such as chance encounters, fate, and the unpredictable nature of our lives. In order to interpret these anecdotes, we will need to consider the genre of this work, one that is classified as "non-fiction," yet, by the same token, presents stories and situations that at times do feel quite "fantastical," or at least "almost too coincidental (or strange) to be true." We will learn, in the process of reading Auster's essays, a lot about Paul Auster both as a person and as a writer, and thereby gain insights into his fiction, the worlds that he has created in his novels and stories, and also about his philosophy of "being a writer."

目標

For this course, the objectives are to read various episodes and interviews included in this collection and to consider the various themes or threads common to and between them, as well as in a few excerpts of Paul Auster's fiction (City of Glass, in particular, though possibly others) that will be shared by the professor in class (either as handouts, or online links). We will ask the question: What makes fiction "fiction," and, by the same token, what makes non-fiction "non-fiction"? Where can (or should) the lines be drawn? Is it not possible to discover "truth" in fiction, and yet also, at times, to uncover "untruth" in what is considered as non-fiction? (For example, when an author intentionally blurs reality by "exaggerating" the truth in order to tell a good story, to change the reader's opinion of something, etc. How about when politicians "stretch the truth," or a news broadcast gives us a story only from one angle?).

授業外の学習

Please come to class prepared by reading all assigned chapters beforehand.

所要時間: 190 hours