magnet

I don’t know about you, but when I start thinking about a certain subject, I often find that my mind turns into a sort of magnet—suddenly everything I’m reading, watching, or talking about leads me back to that particular topic.  Right now, that topic is slavery; I’m teaching a new course on neo-slave narratives and realizing that the course design is in some ways insufficient.  Not a good feeling to have when you’re standing in front of a group of students who expect you to have all your ducks in a row.  Yesterday I started talking about slavery in England and the British empire, and I kept throwing out titles—“Who’s read Jane Eyre?  How about Thackeray—Vanity Fair?  What’s that Jane Austen novel about slavery—Mansfield Park?”  And all I got were blank stares.  So then I asked, “How many of you are English majors?”  Half the students raised their hands, but then I realized that these are American students; there’s no reason they should be familiar with the British literary tradition.  A couple of them had read Wide Sargasso Sea, but how do I teach a book set in the Caribbean when most of the students know nothing about slavery outside the US?  That’s when the magnet mind actually helps…on Monday I came home from class with a headache, turned on the TV fully expecting to fall asleep on the couch, and instead found myself riveted by an episode of Globe Trekker—the travel show—that was on…the trans-Atlantic slave trade!  Great concept: most of the big tourist destinations on the globe are in some way tied to the slave trade.  Think about that…

Next week we’re reading The Book of Night Women by Marlon James; I hoped to find a video of James reading from the book but only found this podcast interview (#199) and this video interview on You Tube.  But while I was on You Tube, I came across this fascinating BBC series, Slavery in Jamaica.  It follows the fortunes of one British family, the Beckfords, who migrated to the Caribbean and built an astonishing fortune by exploiting slave labor on various sugar plantations.  Unfortunately, only 4 excerpts are on You Tube and so I’ve emailed the BBC to find out about acquiring the entire program.  Basically, I’m reconciled to the fact that this course will be much better the next time I teach it.  The first time is always about trial and error, with students serving as guinea pigs, in a way.  Sometimes I feel like I really want to teach a history course with novels rather than a literature course with historical content.  I need some sort of hybrid!  Today is all about grading and then going to see Jane Eyre…in between those two things, I’ll be speaking with my editor about Ship of Souls.