Topic for Fall 2024: Writing Across the Pacific. From Mark Twain’s sketches of Hawaii to the “Hallyuwood” of Korean cinema, literature and film have long traced the intricate movements of people and resources across and around the Pacific. But how do such texts imagine oceans and islands, shorelines and homelands? How can literature not only navigate but also make visible distinct networks forged through multiple cultures, languages, and historical forces? This course investigates stories of immigration, imperialism, and globalization by a range of Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous writers. We’ll untangle complex and sometimes competing claims for kinship, citizenship, and influence for transpacific migrations from the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. Materials will include essays by Mark Twain and Carlos Bulosan, short stories by Sui Sin Far, fiction by Maxine Hong Kingston and Leslie Marmon Silko, and poetry by Craig Santos Perez and Ocean Vuong, plus experimental work by Theresa Hak Kyung Cha.
Course Number
OE025
Level
High School
Semester
Fall
Credit Hours
2.50
Subject
Prerequisites
Successful completion of AP English Language and Composition (OE020) at Stanford OHS, Critical Theory course (OE020A-E), concurrent enrollment in Advanced Literature & Criticism (OE021A-B), or placement assessment