Course Timetable

Léon Carré: Tarot of the 1001 Nights


2021

Semester 2:

Internal & Distance

Semester Dates (Massey University)

• Beginning of Semester 2 (Wk 1): Monday 12 July 2021
• Mid-semester Break: Monday 23 August - Friday 3 September 2021
• End of Teaching (Wk 12): Friday 15 Oct 2021

Albany Internal classes

• Workshops: Monday 4-6 pm (SNW 2.34)

Bibliography Key:

• [AN] = The Arabian Nights. The Husain Haddawy Translation Based on the Text Edited by Muhsin Mahdi: Contexts, Criticism. 1990 & 1995. Ed. Daniel Heller-Roazen. A Norton Critical Edition. New York & London: W. W. Norton & Company, 2010.
• [CB] = 139.329: Advanced Fiction Writing Course Book of Readings

•

[Wk 1] - Section 1:

Introduction
Paratext

Anthology texts to read:

• "The Story of King Shahryar and Shahrazad" (1990) [AN 5-18]
• Martin Armstrong, "Sombrero" (1929) [CB 9-22]
• Josef Horovitz, "The Origins of The Arabian Nights" (1927) [AN 386-409]

Workshop 1: Introduction to Exercises 1-5

•

[Wk 2] - Section 2:

The Fantastic (i)
The Psychology of Fantasy

Anthology texts to read:

• "The Story of The Fisherman and the Demon" (1990) [AN 30-65]
• Tzvetan Todorov, "Narrative-Men" (1971) [AN 443-53]

Workshop 2: Fiction Exercise 1: Faking Sincerity

•

[Wk 3] - Section 3:

The Fantastic (ii)
How Do You Write a Ghost Story?

Anthology texts to read:

• M. R. James, "‘Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad’" (1904) [CB 25-39]
• Edgar Allan Poe, "The Imp of the Perverse" (1845) [CB 41-45]
• Tzvetan Todorov, "The Uncanny and the Marvelous" (1970) [CB 47-52]

Workshop 3: Fiction Exercise 2: Ghost Story

•

[Wk 4] - Section 4:

Magic Realism (i)
The Politics of Representation

Anthology texts to read:

• "The Story of the Three Apples" (1990) [AN 148-202]
• Andras Hamori, "A Comic Romance from The Thousand and One Nights: The Tale of Two Viziers" (1983) [AN 453-70]

Workshop 4: Fiction Exercise 3: Psychology

•

[Wk 5] - Section 5:

Magic Realism (ii)
Deciphering the Tropics

Anthology texts to read:

• Gabriel García Márquez, "Monologue of Isabel Watching It Rain in Macondo" (1955) [CB 55-60]
• Alice Tawhai, "Damnation Circus" (2007) [CB 66-70]
• Witi Ihimaera et al., "Te Ao Mārama, vol. 3: Kaupapa" (1993) [CB 62-64]

Workshop 5: Fiction Exercise 4: Parody

•

[Wk 6] - Section 6:

Metafiction (i)
The Philosophy of Being

Anthology texts to read:

• "The Story of The Porter and the Three Ladies" (1990) [AN 66-148]
• Jack Ross, "The Poetics of Stasis in The 1001 Nights" (2004) [CB 99-106]

Workshop 6: Fiction Exercise 5: What If?

•

MID-SEMESTER BREAK:
23/8-3/9/21

•

[Wk 7] - Section 7:

Metafiction (ii)
How to Be Somewhere and Nowhere

Anthology texts to read:

• Jorge Luis Borges, "The Garden of Forking Paths" (1941) [CB 79-86]
• Tim Corballis, "The Search for the Third Thing" (2006) [CB 88-97]
• Roland Barthes, "The Death of the Author" (1967) [CB 73-77]

Workshop 7: Critical Skills (i): Analysing a Story

•

Due in end of week 7:
Asst 1: Praxis Portfolio (20%)

•

[Wk 8] - Section 8:

New Wave SF (i)
The Power of Speculative Fiction

Anthology texts to read:

• The Story of Sindbad the Sailor" (1995) [AN 303-49]
• Jerome W. Clinton, "Madness and Cure in the 1001 Nights" (1985) [AN 485-99]

Workshop 8: Critical Skills (ii)

•

[Wk 9] - Section 9:

New Wave SF (ii)
Dangerous Visions

Anthology texts to read:

• Philip K. Dick, "I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon" (1985) [CB 109-23]
• Breton Dukes, "The Herd" (2007) [CB 125-30]
• Stanislaw Lem, "Philip K. Dick: A Visionary among the Charlatans" (1984) [CB 132-48]

Workshop 9: Creative Portfolio (i)

•

Due in end of week 9:
Asst 2: Essay (30%)

•

[Wk 10] - Section 10:

Utopia / Dystopia (i)
Thought Experiments

Anthology texts to read:

• Edward W. Lane, trans., "The City of Brass" (1838-40) [CB 151-74]
• David Pinault, "Story-Telling Techniques in the The Arabian Nights" (1992) [AN 504-19]

Workshop 10: Creative Portfolio (ii)

•

[Wk 11] - Section 11:

Utopia / Dystopia (ii)
The Country of the Blind

Anthology texts to read:

• H. G. Wells, "The Country of the Blind" (1904) [CB 176-94]
• Tina Shaw, "Albatross" (2006) [CB 196-201]
• Ursula K. Le Guin, "Is Gender Necessary? Redux" (1976 / 1987) [CB 203-12]

Workshop 11: Creative Portfolio (iii)

•

[Wk 12] - Section 12:

Conclusion
The Point of an Ending

Anthology texts to read:

• Richard F. Burton, trans., "Conclusion to the Nights" (1885) [CB 215-22]
• Heinz Grotzfeld, "Neglected Conclusions of the Arabian Nights: Gleanings in Forgotten and Overlooked Recensions" (1985) [AN 470-85]
• Abdelfattah Kilito, "The Eye and the Needle" (1992) [AN 500-04]

Workshop 12: Creative Portfolio (iv)

•

Due in end of week 13:
Asst 3: Creative Portfolio (50%)

•


Scheherazade