English 190

Book List

Allison, Dorothy: Bastard Out of Carolina; Gonzalez, Rigoberto: Butterfly Boy: Memories of a Chicano Mariposa; Jones, Gayl: Corregidora; Nguyen, Viet Thanh: The Sympathizer; Ozick, Cynthia: The Shawl; Trumbo, Dalton: Johnny Got His Gun; Wideman, John Edgar: Philadelphia Fire

Other Readings and Media

Course Reader

Description

In this course, we’ll analyze representations of repression and resistance in a collection of contemporary literary works, mainly novels. We’ll examine various forms of repression—physical, social, political, and psychological—represented in these works, and we’ll study the various ways the novels resist repression. (Please be forewarned: some of these works include graphic and disturbing representations of violence and abuse.) Several questions inform the course theme: How is it that literature can convert forms of repression into aesthetically pleasing representations? Can pain and suffering be symbolized, stylized, or transfigured into an aesthetic form and still retain its sociohistorical value? At what point does an event become so horrific that it can no longer be represented aesthetically? Where is the line drawn? What are the formal features of the literature of repression and resistance? We’ll make use of a comparative approach to analyze the similarities and differences between the various literary works, and we’ll strive for a critical appreciation of both the social significance and the aesthetic quality of the literature. We’ll also spend a considerable amount of time during the semester discussing research strategies and essay writing.