REQUIRED READING

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All participants in the class must commit to reading our two core texts, ‘Death Comes for the Archbishop’ and ‘Night at the Fiestas’.


Death Comes for the Archbishop - Willa Cather (1927) - 297pp

  • Willa Cather is known as a novelist of the Plains, but she traveled extensively in New Mexico, and her historical novel ‘Death Comes for the Archbishop’ is a love letter to the history and culture of this extraordinary region.

  • Published in 1927, the novel covers the period from 1846 to the late 1880s, and it tells the story of a young French priest, Jean Maria Latour, sent to New Mexico in the months after the Annexation. The novel describes Latour’s attempts to navigate Anglo, Hispanic and Native American interests, whilst staying true to his core humanity and Catholic beliefs. It’s a lyrical and deeply humane novel, written by an American woman aware of her own ‘outsider’ status in this heady and culturally complex world.

  • There is a particular pleasure in reading novels in the place where they are set. We recommend reading two-thirds of ‘Death Comes for the Archbishop’ before the class begins, saving at least the final third to read in Santa Fe. We will explore the city through Cather’s eyes, seeking out the sources of her inspiration, and visiting the locations she so lovingly describes.


Night at the Fiestas - Kirstin Valdez Quade (2012) - 275pp

  • Six of the ten stories in ‘Night at the Fiesta’ are set in New Mexico, and we will discuss them sequentially in our daily seminars over the course of the class.

  • Quade is a brilliant writer. In the stories in this collection, she describes the lives of various contemporary New Mexican characters with visceral skill and psychological truth. Her characters are complex and flawed. The stories don’t go where we expect them to; they are are as unpredictable and quirky as life itself.

  • Quade’s New Mexico makes for a fascinating juxtaposition with Cather’s more romanticized world. Quade tackles faith and folklore - but she also forces us to confront New Mexico as it exists now for those living in dusty towns off the tourist trail. She writes about race and poverty and unfulfilled yearnings. poverty and race and the exploitation of people and resources.

  • Quade has just published one of the stories, ‘The Four Wounds’, in extended form as a 400 page novel (2021). You may choose to read this more fleshed-out story on your return from the class.


SUPPLEMENTARY TEXTS

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In our seminars, we will discuss a range of novels set in New Mexico. Andrew’s passion for literature is infectious, and he’ll dig into a range of material for context and comparison. In the weeks following the class, you may wish to sample and savor some of these books for yourself.

If taking the class ‘for credit’, students will be expected to read at least one of these supplemental novels -

Bless Me, Ultima - Rudolfo Anaya (1972) - 262pp

  • The great Chicano author Rudolfo Anaya was was raised in Santa Rosa, new Mexico, in the 1940s. ‘Bless Me, Ultima’ is a New Mexican classic, a childhood memoir, describing a boy’s relationship with his Ultima, a ‘wise woman’ who takes him under her wing. Anaya’s intention in writing the book was to bring together the Hispanic and the Indigenous traditions, fusing these two strands into something new. Reading the novel is a wonderful way to explore the uniquely syncretic nature of New Mexican culture.

Ceremony - Leslie Marmon Silko (1977) - 262pp

  • ‘Ceremony’ tells the powerful story of a traumatized veteran who returns from the Pacific War and attempts to re-assimilate into life on a Native American Reservation. It’s a bold, often very funny novel capturing brilliantly the Native American tussle between tradition and modernity. The novel is set on Laguna Pueblo, west of Albuquerque, a location we will visit on the final day of the class.

The Milagro Beanfield War - John Nichols (1974) - 445pp

  • John Nichols’ rumbustious ‘70s classic describes a beleaguered Chicano community in the hills of northern New Mexico defending their town against the forces of corporate development. This comic novel is very much of its time, and not all of it has dated well - but it skewers brilliantly the environmental battles that were coming to the fore in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and the way these battles over resources in the desert southwest so often intersect with questions of ethnicity.



TAKING THE CLASS ‘FOR CREDIT’

This class can be taken for pleasure, or for credit.

If taking the class for pleasure, all that is expected is that you read the two core texts, join the seminars and the expeditions, and participate in all the intellectual pleasures of the class.

If taking the class for credit, more will be expected. To achieve 2-unit IACET accreditation, students must -

  • Read the core texts and participate actively in all seminars and expeditions.

  • Write a paper on the experience of bookpacking ’Death Comes for the Archbishop’.

  • Read one of the three supplementary novels, and write a paper describing how well your chosen novel succeeds as a ‘novel of place’ - in other words, how well it conveys a sense of regional geography, culture and identity.

The two pieces of written work should each be 1500 to 2000 words in length (roughly 5 to 6 pages, double spaced), and delivered in Pdf format by email within four weeks of our return from New Mexico.