expectations for this class

I signed up for this class because I took a post-colonial literature class last semester with Dr. Reitz. I really enjoyed reading literature about cultures that I was mainly unfamiliar with, and also found the idea of post-colonialism and the impact it had on the authors and their works especially interesting.

My favorite of the books we read for that class was "Midnight's Children" by Salman Rushdie, and I was thrilled to see his name again for this class's reading list. I also am looking forward to reading the other works, because I am unfamiliar with the authors and their cultures.

I stayed in this section of the course for those reasons, along with the desire to learn more about Islamic culture through the humanizing and revealing form of literature.

Another book we read for Dr. Reitz's class was "The Kite Runner," which I thought was a bit dramatic and unbelievable, but still appreciated for the way it presented Afghanistan to the average American reader. It got me to reevaluate the images I held of that country and its people, images loosely formed because of recent news events.

I don't know much about Islam, and what little I do know I am skeptical of because of the way it has been presented in recent American/Western media. I am looking forward to an interesting and enlightening semester.