Literary Hauntings

This course examines the theme of haunting in contemporary US ethnic literature. With this theme in mind, we will investigate the following questions throughout the trimester: Why is haunting such a prevalent theme in ethnic writing? What do we mean when we say that a text is haunted? What are the causes of haunting? What is possession? What are some ways to dispossess or exorcise ghosts? What are the functions of ghosts? Is there such a thing as a good haunting? What are their messages to us? How do we listen to ghosts? Authors include Lan Cao, Nora Okja Keller, Maxine Hong Kingston, Cynthia Ozick, Toni Morrison, Sandra Cisneros, and Leslie Marmon Silko.