To end off the year, I wanted to share my reflection on this class as a whole. History as Fiction has prodded me to explore and challenge notions of history, truth, and language in ways that pleasantly surprised me. Taking time away from discussing purely plot to discuss the author, postmodern style, mixing of "real" and "fictional" characters to make a point, and ways in which we write histories has been both a joy and an academic endeavor I'm so happy to have been a part of.
Exploration of Ragtime's adoption of real people into flourishing characters and constructed people into historical figures was a perfect book to get me interested in postmodernism. As I was reading Libra, I noticed how much it reminded me of Ragtime in the way that it made the real fictional and the fictional real.
Mumbo Jumbo caught me by surprise, but its overwhelming presence of Ishmael Reed caused me to read it differently than I read other books. Every sentence in that book was meticulously planned out, hinting at deeper meaning or mocking you for thinking too deep.
The time travel elements of Slaughterhouse-Five and Kindred are executed very differently, but certainly both challenged the reader to rethink the way we view the past. My anthropology class experience really enhanced these books for me, pointing out real ways the world is reworking it's view of history.
Libra completed the unexpected task of making me like the character of killer. Perhaps this is the skill of postmodern works: taking something hated and making you see its humanity.
I thank you all for a wonderful semester, and many thanks to you, Mr. Mitchell, for leading such amazing discussions and providing amazing literature to us.
If this were a Facebook post, I'd be hitting the LIKE button. I especially like your closing sentence, as it gives due credit to the group as a whole, without whom none of this would have been possible. I set the table, by picking books and framing a context for conversation, but the real nourishment comes from the thoughtful comments you all made every single day. Sitting in the "crowd" during panel presentations and student-led discussions made this so clear to me.
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