Lit2120 World Literature

Spring 2005

Week 12: 5 April to 10 April, 2005
Read Doris Lessing The Old Chief Mshlanga (2726). "Festival of Pumpkins" on Discussions.

Week 13: 12 April to 17 April, 2005
Read Leslie Marmon Silko Yellow Woman (3144). "Fantasies and Realities?" on Discussions

Week 14: 19 April to 24 April, 2005
Read Derek Walcott “Ruins of a Great House” (2953), “The Almond Trees” (2955) “Sea Cranes” (2967). Caribbean Tunes" on Discussions.

Assignment #6 on Silko is due on Sunday, 24 April, 2005 at 11:55p EDT (see Assignments Page).

Week 15: 26 April to 1 May, 2005
"Final Essay" on the Discussions.
Participation Grade 3 determined on 1 May, 2005

Assignment #7 Final Essay is due on Thursday, 5 May at 11:55p EDT (see Assignments Page).

Contemporary Lines

Contemporary writers have become very adept at using symbols and language to enhance the meaning of writing. Doris Lessing's "The Old Chief Mshlanga" is an excellent example of that use. In the story, Lessing uses what I call “resonance” in her writing. This is the repeated use of details to enhance meanings. While you read, look for examples of Nature descriptions the the story (descriptions of the land, plants, etc.). You'll notice that Lessing uses the details to enhance her meaning. The descriptions of the land around her father's farm are dead, barren, lifeless, while the descriptions of the land near the Chief's kraal are vibrant, lush, and full of life.

Her theme in the story is expressed in the complex phrase: "I had learned that if one cannot call a country to heel like a dog, neither can one dismiss the past with a smile in an easy gush of feeling, saying: I could not help it, I am also a victim."

In the end of the story, there is little doubt who holds the power and who controls the land, and though the former wins the battle, the war will ultimately be won by the latter.

Silko's "Yellow Woman" story is difficult only because the values of the main character are so different from those of our own culture. Native American cultures have always seen themselves as a part of that natural world rather than separate from it. All objects, animate and inanimate, share the spirit of life. Superstition and reality weave a multicolored fabric that can only be appreciated, at times, from a distance.

Though many contemporary readers may see the story as one of an unfocused woman, the protagonist sees herself as part of a greater story, one that exists forever.