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COL 288
Writing on the Margin
COL 288 FA
Crosslistings: WMST285
Section | Class Size | *Available | Times | POI | Prereq |
1 | 24 | 0 | Times: .T.T... 10:00AM-11:20AM; | No | No |
*The number of spaces listed as available is based on class seats open for
the Blue Add phase of registration. Some seats may be taken in previous
phases while others may be held out for subsequent phases of registration.
(Last Updated on Tue Aug 10 05:00:30 EDT 1999
)
As we approach the limit of the 20th century, ancient
questions remain, none more ancient than those concerning
how human beings come to "have," to recognize and
experience, an identity. Yet in an increasingly global and
multicultural society, such questions must be asked under
radically transformed conditions and with an unprecedented
sense of urgency. No longer can we only ask the traditional
foundational questions of who we are, how we are, why we
are. Today, we must also ask where.
Recognizing the importance of that perception, this seminar
examines the work of modern authors who have dedicated their
writing to probing identity at its boundaries--crossing and
recrossing, dissolving and transforming traditional contours
of personhood, sexuality and gender, race and ethnicity,
language, indeed of sanity itself. The narratives of these
authors, taken together, both confirm and contest the
hypothesis that in modern societies the margin is no longer
a marker of division. No longer a separator of identity
from difference, the margin has become a perpetual site of
subject-formation: identity now is difference.
MAJOR READINGS
Virginia Woolf, THE WAVES and A WRITER'S
DIARY (selections)
Thomas Mann, DEATH IN VENICE
E. M. Forster, A PASSAGE TO INDIA
Marguerite Duras, THE VICE CONSUL
Alain Robbe-Grillet, TOPOLOGY OF A PHANTOM CITY
Angela Carter, THE INFERNAL DESIRE MACHINES OF DOCTOR
HOFFMAN
Christa Wolf, CASSANDRA: A NOVEL AND FOUR ESSAYS
Carlos Fuentes, THE ORANGE TREE
Julia Kristeva, Homi Bhabha, Rey Chow, Gilles Deleuze:
theoretical and cultural essays.
EXAMINATIONS AND ASSIGNMENTS
Thoughtful preparation,
dedicated participation in class discussion, two
interpretive essays and one creative project.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS and/or COMMENTS
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: Discussion Seminar
REGISTRATION INFORMATION
Level: UG Credit: 1.00
Gen Ed Area & Dept: HA COL
Prerequisites:
None
- Section 01
- Weissman, H
- Times: .T.T... 10:00AM-11:20AM;
- Grading Mode: Mixed
- Registration Preference (1 high to 6 low, 0=Excluded) Sr: 1, Jr: 1, So: 1, Fr: 1
- No Major Preference Given
Last Updated on MAR-22-1999
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