Remapping the Frontier in North American Literature and Film

The -master narrative” which has predominated America’s understanding of itself as a nation includes the notion of the frontier as a key source of egalitarianism and freedom. Historian Frederick Jackson Turner advanced the thesis of the importance of the frontier experience at the -World’s Columbian Exposition” in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate American achievements since Columbus’ -discovery” of the New World four hundred years earlier; ironically, this coincided with the end of the Western frontier as measured by Indian resistance, the final brutal massacre of free Native Americans having taken place at Wounded Knee/South Dakota in 1890. Using as a case study the ambivalent figure of Buffalo Bill – he both helped to destroy Native environment (he reputedly killed 4,280 American buffalo in eight months in 1867/68) and celebrated frontier culture in his (at that time) internationally acclaimed -Wild West Shows” from 1872-1908 – we will analyze conflicting and changing attitudes toward the American frontier in literature and film, as well as in current internet blogs and YouTube uploads. We will also trace the historical push to the West from the beginnings of European settlement in the late 16th and early 17th centuries to the end of the 19th century, showing that it was more complex and multi-directional than generally depicted in popular novels and cinema. Postmodern cultural studies assigns far more significance to the transcultural contributions of the ethnicities and communities generally -steamrollered” by the AmerEuropean flow to the West than traditional approaches do. Attention will also be paid to the more abstract frontiers of the 20th and 21st centuries. The semester -reader- will include historical and theory texts; primary literature and film analyses. If you want to read during the semester break, you can look at the first 19 chapters of Willa Cather's now classic novel My Antonia (1918) about the 'immigrant frontier' of the Nebraska prairies; the text is available online: http://www.americanliterature.com/Cather/MyAntonia/MyAntonia.html . I am asking students to purchase and read only one novel in its entirety: Tomson Highway, Kiss of the Fur Queen (1998). Written by one of the major Canadian -First Nations- authors, this autobiographical novel shows - with metaphorical beauty and Cree Native myth & humor - the positive and negative effects of current transculturality as the frontier moves to urban settings. This book is also rather complex and shocking in parts, especially toward the end, and to make it appropriate for a Proseminar, I will provide a reading guide, especially with regard to the Native trickster figure which appears in various unexpected guises. Highway's novel might also be somewhat expensive (after all of the amazon.de cheaper versions have been purchased), so a master copy of it will be available for photocopying. Kiss of the Fur Queen is an important and courageous book, however, and will be worth the reading effort and money you invest in it! - Read the first 19 chapters of Willa Cather, My Antonia (originally published in 1918; many cheap versions are available via amazon.de). You may read this online: http://www.americanliterature.com/Cather/MyAntonia/MyAntonia.html - Purchase Tomson Highway, Kiss of the Fur Queen (originally published in 1998; any reasonably-priced edition is fine). If you cannot locate an economical edition, please -order- a cheaper photocopied version from me. See the course description for some tips for reading this metaphorical but gripping book. - All other material will be included in the semester reader. Anglistik - Literaturwissenschaft Universität Siegen WiSe 2011/12 Anglistik - Amerikanistik Ph.D. Waegner Cathy Ph.D