Paul M Worley

Fall 2018
Engl 674

Performance, Text, and Textuality

During the first few weeks in class we have analyzed works of Indigenous literature through the
dual lenses of text and textuality, using Leslie Marmon Silko’s Storyteller as our primary
theoretical text.

Following the format specified in the syllabus, address one of the following two questions. Keep
in mind that, in addition to using secondary sources already brought to class, you are also
expected to do a good bit of original research here, drawing on theories of textuality,
performance, and Native American literary theories. Use the bibliographies of articles we have
read to get you going.

#1: Argue for/against the possibilities of using a text like Storyteller as both a literary and a
theoretical text. Questions you may consider (but are NOT to be answered in any systematic
way): What are the advantages/disadvantages of such an approach? What can be gained when we
use a text like Storyteller to illuminate the multi-modal approach adopted by other authors that
may/may not be at the fore of these other works? Where does this situate the performance of
reading with regard the reader and the text? How does this change the nature of text itself?

#2: Apply Storyteller as the theoretical framework to address a specific work (either the Popol
vuh or Silko’s own Ceremony). Beyond a paragraph detailing how you understand and read
Storyteller as a theoretical text, make sure to be very specific in how your framework can then be
applied to the work you are analyzing. Questions you may consider (but are NOT to be
answered in any systematic way): how does the placement of this work within a larger
Indigenous textual context create new meaning within the work, as well as outside of it? What
structures of power are illuminated within the text, as well as within how it tends to get read
critically? What alternative ways of interacting with the text are suggested/implied/created by
how you situate it with regard to Storyteller?