BEYOND BORDERS - Thursday

Schedule	BEYOND BORDERS WINTER SEMESTER 2019-2020 BEGINS: November 7, 2019 Thursday 10.25 I was glad to see you all back in class and I’m now looking forward to hearing your reactions to the entire novel next week. What is this class all about? We’re just starting the tenth semester of Beyond Borders, but if you’re new to the class, it may not be so clear what the focus of the course actually is. This course evolved from a class called Literary Landscapes, where we looked at English language literature written in and about Switzerland. If you’re interested, at the bottom of the page you can see a list of some of the works we read in that class over five semesters. Beginning with the Summer Semester 2015 the class became BEYOND BORDERS, and our focus has become another kind of Immigrant Literature – primarily, works representing different cultures in various parts of the English-speaking world. Often, but not always, these are writers whose first language was not English, so through their background and culture they offer us a truly unique perspective. Here’s what we’ve read so far: MATERIALS: Novels / Short Stories / Plays / Poems / Articles / Discussion Worksheets / Grammar and Vocabulary Exercises / Pictures and Paintings Summer Semester 2015 Family Life by Akhil Sharma (India) Every Day is for the Thief by Teju Cole (Nigeria) Articles by Oliver Sacks Winter Semester 2015-2016 When the Emperor was Divine by Julie Otsuka (Japan) Brooklyn by Colm Toíbin (Ireland) Summer Semester 2016 The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Pakistan) My Antonia by Willa Cather (Bohemia) New Glarus Emigration. NEW GLARUS WEBSITE: www.swisshistoricalvillage.org (Switzerland) Article about Molly Brown (Ireland) Loose Change by Andrea Levy (Jamaica) Winter Semester 2016-2017 Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat (Haiti) Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad (Poland) Snow by Julia Alvarez (Dominican Republic) Cathedral by Raymond Carver (USA) Summer Semester 2017 The Refugees by Viet Thanh Nguyen (Vietnam) The Beautiful Things that Heaven Bears by Dinaw Mengestu (Ethiopia) Winter Semester 2017-2018 The Chosen by Chaim Potok (Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish Communities in Brooklyn) The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros (Mexico) Summer Semester 2018 Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones (The Great Migration-USA) My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell (England to Corfu) Winter Semester 2018-2019 Clear Light of Day by Anita Desai (India) Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie (Pakistan) Summer Semester 2019 Waiting by Ha Jin (China) Articles Down and Out in Paris and London by George Orwell (England) Winter Semester 2019-2020 Beloved by Toni Morrison (USA)
HOMEWORK for 13th February	READING: Please finish the book for next time and have a look at the questions. BOOKMARK #9: What do we find out about Ella? What caused her to change her attitude towards Sethe? What do they women decide has to be done? What is Denver getting ready to do? What reaction do the women have to “Beloved”? Who is coming for Denver? What confusion arises in Sethe when she sees him? What do we learn from the conversation between Paul D and Stamp? What do they laugh about? Why? How does Stamp feel about Denver? Why? What emerges from the conversation between Paul D and Denver? How has Denver developed? How hopeful for her do you feel? What situation does Paul D find at 124? What does he want to do? Do you think he’ll be able to help Sethe? Why? What feelings are we left with in the final chapter? ARTICLE: Complete the excerpt from Alice in Wonderland if you’re interested! WORKSHEET: Just review the worksheet on “Three of a Kind”	WINTER SEMESTER 2014-2015 Dubliners by James Joyce The choice of Dubliners by James Joyce respresents a departure from the main theme of Literary Landscapes in that there aren’t many references to Switzerland in James Joyce’s writing and actually none at all in the book we’ll be reading. However, Joyce lived in Zurich off and on for almost 40 years and is buried in Fluntern Cemetery in Zurich. Indeed, the very active James Joyce Foundation is in Zurich, so the connection between the author and this country cannot be denied. “A Christmas Truce” “The Whipping Boy” FROM WINTER SEMESTER 2014-2015: In case you’re interested in THE DEAD, here it is in its entirety. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVJc9fzqAcI Try the link – it should work and it’s well worth watching. SUMMER SEMESTER 2014: A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway Article by Dan Fagin Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith Patricia Highsmith who spent the last part of her life in Tegna, Switzerland. She died of aplastic anemia in Locarno in 1995, and her ashes were interred in the cemetery in Tegna. Her last novel is set in the gay and lesbian scene in Zurich; unfortunately, this book, small g: A Summer Idyll, is currently out of print, so for our summer reading we’re looking at two of her earlier novels. Strangers on a Train, her first book which she wrote when she was 29, and was made into a famous film by Alfred Hitchcock, and The Talented Mr. Ripley, the first of a trilogy, has been filmed several times, first in French and then in English. The Two Faces of January, another of her psychological thrillers, is a new film, which is playing in Basel this summer. Check it out! Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham We’ve been continuing the theme of Switzerland during WW I with the second book this semester, Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham. Maugham, who was 42 when the First World War started, volunteered as an ambulance driver in France. He was then engaged by the British Secret Service as a secret agent and was stationed in Switzerland, using his medical profession as a cover. Ashenden is based on his experiences during this period. Maugham is often credited with writing the first espionage thriller and Ian Fleming, Graham Greene and John Le Carré have all expressed their indebtedness to him for creating the genre within which they wrote. WINTER SEMESTER 2013-2014: Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald Excerpts from Swiss-Watching by Diccon Bewes SUMMER SEMESTER 2013: Excerpt from Baedecker’s “Switzerland” “The Final Problem” by Arthur Conan Doyle “Switzerland” by Bill Bryson The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt Dr. Fischer of Geneva by Graham Greene Frankenstein by Mary Shelley On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan WINTER SEMESTER 2012-2013 A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain EXCERPT from Notes from a Native Son by James Baldwin Daisy Miller by Henry James Articles and Short Story by Ernest Hemingway Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner
POEMS	Excerpt from Christmas Oratorio by W.H. Auden Well, so that is that. Now we must dismantle the tree, Putting the decorations back into their cardboard boxes— Some have got broken—and carrying them up to the attic. The holly and the mistletoe must be taken down and burnt, And the children got ready for school. There are enough Left-overs to do, warmed-up, for the rest of the week— Not that we have much appetite, having drunk such a lot, Stayed up so late, attempted—quite unsuccessfully— To love all of our relatives, and in general Grossly overestimated our powers. Once again As in previous years we have seen the actual Vision and failed To do more than entertain it as an agreeable Possibility, once again we have sent Him [Christ] away, Begging though to remain His disobedient servant, The promising child who cannot keep His word for long. The Christmas Feast is already a fading memory. . . . Because of by Leonard Cohen Because of a few songs Wherein I spoke of their mystery, Women have been Exceptionally kind to my old age. They make a secret place In their busy lives And they take me there. They become naked In their different ways and they say, “Look at me, Leonard Look at me one last time.” Then they bend over the bed And cover me up Like a baby that is shivering.

LITERARY LANDSCAPES:

November 2012-March 2015

WINTER SEMESTER 2014-2015

Dubliners by James Joyce

The choice of Dubliners by James Joyce respresents a departure from the main theme of Literary Landscapes in that there aren’t many references to Switzerland in James Joyce’s writing and actually none at all in the book we’ll be reading. However, Joyce lived in Zurich off and on for almost 40 years and is buried in Fluntern Cemetery in Zurich. Indeed, the very active James Joyce Foundation is in Zurich, so the connection between the author and this country cannot be denied.

“A Christmas Truce”

“The Whipping Boy”

FROM WINTER SEMESTER 2014-2015: In case you’re interested in THE DEAD, here it is in its entirety. www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVJc9fzqAcI Try the link – it should work and it’s well worth watching.

SUMMER SEMESTER 2014:

A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

Article by Dan Fagin

Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

Patricia Highsmith who spent the last part of her life in Tegna, Switzerland. She died of aplastic anemia in Locarno in 1995, and her ashes were interred in the cemetery in Tegna. Her last novel is set in the gay and lesbian scene in Zurich; unfortunately, this book, small g: A Summer Idyll, is currently out of print, so for our summer reading we’re looking at two of her earlier novels. Strangers on a Train, her first book which she wrote when she was 29, and was made into a famous film by Alfred Hitchcock, and The Talented Mr. Ripley, the first of a trilogy, has been filmed several times, first in French and then in English. The Two Faces of January, another of her psychological thrillers, is a new film, which is playing in Basel this summer. Check it out!

Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham

We’ve been continuing the theme of Switzerland during WW I with the second book this semester, Ashenden by W. Somerset Maugham. Maugham, who was 42 when the First World War started, volunteered as an ambulance driver in France. He was then engaged by the British Secret Service as a secret agent and was stationed in Switzerland, using his medical profession as a cover. Ashenden is based on his experiences during this period. Maugham is often credited with writing the first espionage thriller and Ian Fleming, Graham Greene and John Le Carré have all expressed their indebtedness to him for creating the genre within which they wrote.

WINTER SEMESTER 2013-2014:

Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Excerpts from Swiss-Watching by Diccon Bewes

SUMMER SEMESTER 2013:

Excerpt from Baedecker’s “Switzerland”

“The Final Problem” by Arthur Conan Doyle

“Switzerland” by Bill Bryson

The Memory Chalet by Tony Judt

Dr. Fischer of Geneva by Graham Greene

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley

On Her Majesty’s Secret Service by Ian Fleming

On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan

WINTER SEMESTER 2012-2013

A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain

EXCERPT from Notes from a Native Son by James Baldwin

Daisy Miller by Henry James

Articles and Short Story by Ernest Hemingway

Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner