Alternative Voices
Engaging the Unkown
In our classroom discussion we talk about John Gardner’s dictum: novels can be simplified according to two major themes:
1) A boy leaves home
2) A stranger comes to town
This novel can be both at the same time. It is the exploration of the Stranger — the alien to the time and place a character dwells. By examining the Stranger, we get to ask ourselves the most important questions of the day: Who is the character, and how is he like me?
According to Hamid, “In a world where American influence has been, and continues to be, pervasive in film, music, fashion, politics, liberalism, and individualism, {this book} presents an alternative viewpoint, all the while exposing the tensions and controversies that go along with this alternative.” He’s right, and this novel will give us a place to start.
See an Interview with Moshid Hamid
Texts:
* Reluctant Fundamentalist, Hamid
Short Story
* The Guest, Camus
* The Stranger, Camus
* The Metamorphosis, Kafka
Poems
* Another Time, WH Auden
Music
* Star Spangled Banner (various artists)
* Born in the USA, Springsteen
* Tale of Brave Ulysses, Cream
Moving to Mastery of:
* Form Criticism
* Integrating Archetypes, Plotting, and Characterization
* Timed-Writing (Free-Write)
