For your final, research essay, you will write a 5- to 7-page paper (1300-1800 words) that examines any TWO NOVELS that we’re reading this semester. Think about any ONE of the following ideas that have come up in our discussions and readings this semester, making an argument for what the TWO NOVELS that you’ve chosen say about this idea: Novels are: Achebe, Chinua. Things Fall Apart. 1959. New York: Anchor Books, 1994. Coetzee, J. M. Disgrace. New York: Penguin Books, 1999. Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness. 1999. Ontario: Broadview Press, 2002. Ghosh, Amitav. Shadow Lines. 1988. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2005. Gyasi, Yaa. Homegoing. New York: Vintage Books, 2016. Rushdie, Salman. Haroun and the Sea of Stories. New York: Penguin Books, 1990. Representation: keeping in mind the distinction between literary and political definitions of representation, think about how each of the novels approach the relationship between artistic work and political burdens. Collectively, how might these novels be, for the lack of a better word, representing representation? Self-determination: what is at stake, in these novels, in the ideas of independence, freedom, and self-determination? Conversely, what definitions of these terms do the novels offer up? Nations and nationalism: What is the importance of nation-states, either as political entities, as imagined communities, as mythic ideas, or some combination thereof, to these novels? Intersectionality: Each of the novels we’ve read this semester explores the co-existence (clash, commonalities) of different forms of identity. In what ways might these novels be approaching different elements of identity and subjectivity? You must use at least 4 and no more than 6 external resources The research that you do for this essay has to be: Scholarly, which is to say, peer-reviewed. Literary criticism, which is to say the examination of literary texts, rather than historical, merely contextual, or sociological. Obtained through your own, external research.
