Upcoming Schedule

Here are the readings and writing assignments for the next week. For those not in class, there is no class meeting on Thursday, May 27. Take the class time to catch up on reading and do the response, listed below. Bring your writing assignment and reading of Junot Diaz's novel next Tuesday:

• No class on Thursday → finish Death in the Andes, and type one-page, focused response to the question set: “How do you reconcile Lituma’s anti-hero protagonist in the novel? What is one defining moment in the second half of the novel that represents his character, and perhaps Vargas Llosa’s view of the Andean region?” Use one to two concise quotes to support, and focus on interpreting his character and the novel’s meaning. Bring to class Tuesday, June 1.

• Read up page 165 of Junot Diaz’s The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao. We will discuss at least the first three parts, and hopefully get into this fourth section on Tuesday. Annotate/take notes on the role the history of the island plays in shaping characters, and on some of the ways the characters inhabit and mimic two identities simultaneously – both American and Latin American.