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Academic Year 2005/2006

Spoken and Unspeakable: Violence in Contemporary Literature and Theory
ENGL 321 FA

Two powerful but conflicting accounts have animated contemporary discussions about violence. On the one side have been critics, from Walter Benjamin to Michel Foucault, who have insisted that violence is intimately related to and even primarily disseminated through discourse. Increasingly powerful in recent years has been a very different view, which ¿ paradoxically ¿ may have emerged from former. In this account, violence is essentially unspeakable, that is, it is resistant to the organizing mechanisms of cognition and representation. What theories of language, violence, cognition and history underwrite these views? In what kinds of political arguments are they enmeshed? What is at stake in claiming that violence is either all we speak, or always unspeakable? The special status of literature and "the fictive" in this debate will be a major focus. This course will trace out these views as they articulated by theorists, novelists, and even some poets. The course will be organized by ¿keywords,¿ which will include Trauma, Terrorism, Torture, Murder and Hate Speech.

MAJOR READINGS

Readings will include theories of violence, literary and cultural theory, and a number of contemporary novels. Selected texts may include: Judith Butler, EXCITABLE SPEECH; Kazuo Ishiguro, A PALE VIEW OF THE HILLS; Shoshana Felman and Dori Laub, TESTIMONY; Elaine Scarry, THE BODY IN PAIN.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS

One short essay, one research paper (15-20 pages).

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS

This course is restricted to students who have completed ENGL201. While no further course is required, a familiarity with some theory is highly recommended. This course meets the English Department's Theory requirement.

COURSE FORMAT: Seminar

REGISTRATION INFORMATION

Level: UGRD    Credit: 1    Gen Ed Area Dept: HA ENGL    Grading Mode: Graded   

Prerequisites: NONE Links to Web Resources For This Course.

Last Updated on MAR-30-2006

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