COL209 - The Fantastic in Narrative Imagination

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Academic Year 2001/2002

The Fantastic in Narrative Imagination
COL 209 SP

Crosslistings:
RUSS 290

Literature of the fantastic plays an important role in the history of modern European and Russian fiction from the eighteenth through the twentieth century. In distinction from the realist trajectory of representing the world perceived as rational, the fantastic test the limits of the irrational and the uncanny, defined by Freud as "that class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar."

The course will focus on the narrative implications of the fantastic and its development as a popular genre in relation to national histories and the history of the novel. The class will explore the evolution of transgressive themes of self, consciousness, anxiety, and sexual desire and their interpretation in feminist and psychoanalytic theory.

MAJOR READINGS

Our reading will include the following works:
Ann Radcliffe, THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO
Mary Shelley, FRANKENSTEIN
E.T.A. Hoffmann, "The Sandman"
Aleksandr Pushkin, "The Queen of Spades"
Nikolai Gogol, "Diary of a Madman," "Nose," and "The Overcoat"
Fedor Dostoevsky, "The Double"
Edgar Allan Poe, "The Purloined Letter" and other stories
Guy de Maupassant, "The Horla"
Nathaniel Hawthorne, "The Minister's Black Veil"
Henry James, "The Turn of the Screw"
Franz Kafka, METAMORPHOSIS
E.Y. Agnon, THE LADY & THE PEDDLER
Singer, THE MAGICIAN OF LUBLIN

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

Two papers, oral presentation.

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course counts toward the major in Russian Language and Literature or Russian and East European Studies.

Unless preregistered students attend the first class meeting or communicate directly with the instructor prior to the first class, they will be dropped from the class list. NOTE: Students must still submit a completed Drop/Add form to the Registrar's Office.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD Credit: 1 Gen Ed Area Dept: HA COL Grading Mode: Student Option

Prerequisites: NONE

SECTION 01

Instructor(s): Slobin,Greta

Times: ..T.... 07:00PM-09:30PM; Location: FISK116

Reserved Seats: (Total Limit: 19)

SR. major: 3 Jr. major: 3

SR. non-major: 3 Jr. non-major: 3 SO: 6 FR: 1

Special Attributes:

Curricular Renewal: Speaking, Writing

Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-19-2002