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Course Code etc
Academic Year 2024
College College of Arts
Course Code AM046
Theme・Subtitle Brautigan I: Brautigan & the Dadaists
Class Format Face to face (all classes are face-to-face)
Class Format (Supplementary Items)
Campus Seminar
Campus Ikebukuro
Semester Spring Semester
DayPeriod・Room Tue.3・6402
Credit 2
Course Number EAL2411
Language English
Class Registration Method Automatic Registration
Grade (Year) Required 配当年次は開講学部のR Guideに掲載している科目表で確認してください。
prerequisite regulations
Acceptance of Other Colleges 履修登録システムの『他学部・他研究科履修不許可科目一覧』で確認してください。
course cancellation ×(履修中止不可/ Not eligible for cancellation)
Online Classes Subject to 60-Credit Upper Limit
Relationship with Degree Policy 各授業科目は、学部・研究科の定める学位授与方針(DP)や教育課程編成の方針(CP)に基づき、カリキュラム上に配置されています。詳細はカリキュラム・マップで確認することができます。
Notes
Text Code AM046

【Course Objectives】

This English literature course aims to help students develop their English abilities in the four core skills of listening, reading, speaking, and writing through a combination of various texts, media and in-class activities. Students enrolled in this course will have the opportunity to enhance their abilities to analyze a text of literature through close reading of the original text, the provision of supplementary notes, videos or audio to aid students in their reading and interpretation of the source text from various perspectives. This will facilitate their overall understanding of the fields of Dadaist (1st Semester) and later Surrealist (2nd Semester) literature, both in terms of its origins in France, followed then by a focus upon its adoption and use by 20th Century American writers.

To provide students with a better contextual background, some supplementary materials and information on contemporary Dadaist and Surrealist writers and poets will also be provided to help students better understand some of the influences on Richard Brautigan’s writing. In each semester, three additional Dadaist or Surrealist writers will be introduced (for a period of three weeks each) as a means of comparison against the writings of Richard Brautigan himself, to help students deepen their understanding of this literary artform.

In terms of skills related to English ability and proficiency, students will have the opportunity to improve their English listening skills through the interpretations of the text provided by their teacher in class, and listening to recordings of Richard Brautigan reading his own texts as well as an audiobook version available online (on YouTube) which students can listen to, as a way either to review content or obtain a better understanding of the text. This will be used not only as a listening-comprehension exercise but as a way to better appreciate the feel and sounds of poetry and literature as a whole.

Group discussions will be held in regular classes on questions directly related to the text and given to students beforehand to prepare. Students will also have the opportunity to make a presentation in class (towards the end of the course) to help students improve their written proficiency (in preparing for the presentation) and their spoken English proficiency when they give the presentation in class. Students will give a presentation on one Dadaist or Surrealist poet mentioned throughout the course such as Marcel Duchamp, Claude Pélieu, or Bob Dylan (focusing only upon Dylan’s Dadaist writings in Tarantula) in Semester 1 and for students continuing into Semester 2, they will have the opportunity to present on a Surrealist writer such as André Breton, Philip Lamantia, or Jack Spicer (one of Brautigan’s close friends). Three written homework assignments will be assigned on supplementary materials provided in class. Assignment #1 will be about Brautigan’s first collection of poems, The Galilee Hitch-Hiker; Assignment #2 will be about Brautigan’s second collection of poems Lay the Marble Tea; and Assignment #3 will be about another early collection of poems called The Octopus Frontier. Assignment #4 will be held over two weeks towards the end of term, during which students will give a 3-minute presentation. Supplementary materials will be provided either in class or by email to help students complete ALL assignments. Some guidelines on how to complete these assignments will also be provided by the teacher, to help students improve their abilities in English written composition and expression.


Successful completion of this course should indicate an understanding of…
1. the historical background and contexts of the Dadaist and Surrealist movements in France and later their adoption by American writers;
2. the style, structure, aesthetics, aims and various complexities of Richard Brautigan’s writings, with a particular focus on his major work of prose plus early volumes of poetry;
3. several ways of analyzing a text, through supplementary readings and slides provided in class. NOTE: Keith Abbott’s analytical memoir called Downstream from Trout Fishing in America will be used extensively as a source and reference for generating background notes and details, as well as Joseph Mill’s book Reading Richard Brautigan’s Trout Fishing in America.
4. a better background knowledge of Brautigan’s life and times (based on a very thorough biography on Brautigan by William Hjortsberg called Jubillee Hitchhiker: The Life & Times of Richard Brautigan.

This course also involves the development of the following skills…
1. the ability to interpret and discuss a text, based on its historical and cultural context and milieu;
2. the ability to inform an original text through the use of secondary sources;
3. the ability to interpret and understand the literary analysis of other critics and writers;
4. the ability to present an argument or summary of one’s opinion on a literary work both in writing and orally.

【Course Contents】

This course, predominantly conducted in English, will offer enrolled students the opportunity to read and discuss Richard Brautigan’s prose Dadaist masterpiece Trout Fishing in America and how the text has been received by the public since its publication. This year marks the 40th anniversary of Brautigan’s death and therefore an appropriate time to take a look at his oeuvre once again. We will also talk about some of the Dadaist and Surrealist writers (both French and American) who share something in common with Richard Brautigan’s style of writing.

Most supplementary notes have been drawn from three very helpful texts: Keith Abbott’s Downstream from Trout Fishing in America, Joseph Mill’s Reading Richard Brautigan’s Trout Fishing in America and also from the incredibly detailed and exhaustive biography on Brautigan by William Hjortsberg called Jubilee Hitchhiker: The Life and Times of Richard Brautigan. Finally, where possible, the teacher will use any audio files and video by or on the writer. The aim of sharing these materials is twofold; to enrich students’ knowledge of Richard Brautigan, his writing and his perceptions of the world, and to help them enjoy studying poetry and prose through audio-visual materials, not just the written page.

※Please refer to Japanese Page for details including evaluations, textbooks and others.