A subculture characterized as part youth rebellion, part artistic statement, punk has lingered and transmogrified in popular discourse since its heyday in the 1970s. In this class we'll delve into the history of social, musical, and aesthetic manifestations of punk in the U.S. and UK and investigate the connections between punk's DIY, anti-authoritarian ethos and the politics of the late-twentieth century. We'll embrace a cultural studies framework to examine punk production in its various material and discursive forms-- music, fashion, film, manifestos, revolutions, etc. Throughout, we'll turn a critical eye towards investigating expectations and performances of gender, race, and class in a range of punk communities (i.e. Queercore, Riot Grrl, etc). Our discussions and your writing will be informed by scholarly books and articles, narrative accounts of punk, film screenings, and a lot of loud music.

Elective

Horror stories are a literary & artistic expression of anxiety. It's not odd at all that we still write about ghosts when we're busy churning up & examining the crimes of our ancestors, or that we write contagion stories (zombies!) during a pandemic, or apocalyptic horror as we face the effects of climate change. Horror stories can be-as is true of any literature-artful, profound, entertaining, and -as Ezra Pound would say-news. We'll read a selection of stories-fundamental classics, lesser-known but influential stories, and contemporary attempts-to identify genre characteristics and to locate elements that define the genre's power. We'll also read works written about horror by horror authors and test their claims. To deepen our understanding of the genre even further-in addition to essays & exams-students will have the option to try their hand at writing an original horror story.

Elective

What role does poetry play in times of war? Why might we turn to poetry when our collective grief seems most inexpressible? Through an engagement with contemporary poetry, we will learn how formal experiments in language intervene in our capacity to witness, confront, and endure painful encounters with war and loss. What knowledge can poetry produce and bear which would otherwise remain unknowable to us? What ideals and beliefs might we have to suspend, give up, and transform to truly perceive the insights of a poem? Each week, we will read a book of poetry that can hold the impossible contradictions and tensions that emerge in the wake of deep violations of the mind, body, and spirit. Readings may include work by Ilya Kaminsky, Solmaz Sharif, Yusef Komunyakaa, Don Mee Choi, Divya Victor, Maya Abu Al-Hayyat, Bhanu Kapil, Cindy Juyoung Ok, Nazim Hikmet, and Tarfia Faizullah. Students can expect to experiment with writing poetry alongside weekly reflection posts and a final analytical essay.

Elective

To be a lesbian, according to Monique Wittig, seems the simplest and most complex mode of desiring: she who was interested in 'only' half of the population and had a violent desire for that half. In a world overcrowded by the voices and bodies of men, how does a lesbian carve out physical and imaginative space to let her desires free? This course will explore how this question has been addressed by daring, renegade lesbian writers who have used the medium of textual narrative to produce both history and future. Rather than reading these novels as historical document, sociological artifact, or even personal testaments, we will digest them as performance, wish-fulfillment, blueprint for a world in which love and sex between women reign.

Elective

Postcolonial literature is the writing produced by people in or from regions that have escaped the yoke of colonialism. Of course, such a definition raises a number of questions, and during the semester we will grapple with the definition. Our readings will open with several theoretical discussions of postcoloniality, then we will continue with novels and poetry from Australia, India, Indonesia, Ireland, New Zealand, Samoa, and Sri Lanka. This history of trading empires and settler colonies will be a major focus in this course. Through individual projects and a final paper that works with at least one of the theoretical texts and a novel or book of poetry, students can begin to focus on the area in the field that specifically interests them. Writers may include Ciaran Carson, Lionel Fogarty, Keri Hulme, R.K. Narayan, Michael Ondaatje, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, and Albert Wendt.

Elective

This course considers the fiction of the Japanese British Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro in a world literary context. Based on a selection of his short stories and novels we will discuss, among other things, the different critical perspectives relevant to reading globally in terms of which both the author and his work have often been read, including the manner in which putative signs of Englishness and "Japaneseness" have been attributed especially to his early texts. At the same time, we will consider the intriguing ways in which the author's fiction comments implicitly on its own reading as well as ways of reading world literature. The course also has a film component in that we will view and discuss a film adaptation of one of Ishiguro's novels as well as two other relevant films as a basis for examining how the author's adaptive use of certain narrative techniques has helped shape his style and fictional worlds. In this way, the course engages questions related to ethics, knowledge, cultural translation, narrative and cultural representation, as well as interpretation and critique central to both Ishiguro's fiction and the reading of world literature.

Elective

This course, besides revisiting the traditional narrative elements of spy and detective fiction, considers a selection of the increasing number of late twentieth- and twenty-first-century transnational, diasporic, postcolonial, and minority/ethnic authors from around the world who adapt spy and detective fiction conventions for the purpose of social critique. In focusing on issues related to identity, culture, ethics, human rights, justice, and knowledge construction narrated by these fictions, we will examine carefully, for example, the figure of the spy or detective as outsider to and observer of society as well as, in the works at issue here, frequently an immigrant or cultural or social "other." In the process, we will also engage questions central to reading, interpreting, and comparing fiction in a global context.

Elective

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, writes Oscar Wilde, even one's own relations. While the domestic sphere is often understood as a refuge from the quarrels and dangers of the perilous outside world, the family home can also be a site of tension, violence, and competition. Literature and cinema show us time and again that some of the most bitter and bloody conflicts unfold in the intimate battleground of hearth and home. This course tracks the seemingly timeless idea of the family in its historical evolution, from patrilineal dynasties to the nuclear family of suburban postwar America. Why do the horrors of home-life shock and fascinate us? What is gained or sacrificed in the name of “family values,” and why is the gothic so closely tied to the domestic? Texts and excerpts include: Medea, The Tempest, Wuthering Heights, The Turn of the Screw, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” The Importance of Being Earnest, The Metamorphosis, Kindred and Psycho, with secondary readings from No Future and Abolish the Family. Students will write three argument-driven essays including a research project on one of our course-texts.

Elective

After a good dinner one can forgive anybody, writes Oscar Wilde, even one's own relations. While the domestic sphere is often understood as a refuge from the quarrels and dangers of the perilous outside world, the family home can also be a site of tension, violence, and competition. Literature and cinema show us time and again that some of the most bitter and bloody conflicts unfold in the intimate battleground of hearth and home. This course tracks the seemingly timeless idea of the family in its historical evolution, from patrilineal dynasties to the nuclear family of suburban postwar America. Why do the horrors of home-life shock and fascinate us? What is gained or sacrificed in the name of “family values,” and why is the gothic so closely tied to the domestic? Texts and excerpts include: Medea, The Tempest, Wuthering Heights, The Turn of the Screw, “The Fall of the House of Usher,” The Importance of Being Earnest, The Metamorphosis, Kindred and Psycho, with secondary readings from No Future and Abolish the Family. Students will write three argument-driven essays including a research project on one of our course-texts.

Elective

The Middle Ages were defined by translation, and at the hub of the interlingual and intercultural networks crisscrossing western Eurasia was the Greek-speaking civilization known today as Byzantium. In this class we approach literature of the medieval millennium (roughly the 5th to the 15th century CE) by focusing on the period's truly global best-sellers: works of fiction, mysticism, folktale, romance, and philosophy that were each translated multiple times from one language to another, and that enjoyed massive popularity in each new cultural setting. Instead of being viewed as an incubator of distinct "national" literatures, the medieval period becomes an opportunity to explore literary forms, themes, and universal human concerns that transcended linguistic, religious, and national borders. Texts studied include both works originally written in Greek as well as others that made their way from Persian, Arabic, Syriac, and Georgian into Greek, and then through Greek into other languages of the Near East and Europe. Readings include but are not limited to: Barlaam and Josaphat; The Book of Syntipas the Philosopher ("the Byzantine Sinbad"); the Apocalypse of Pseudo-Methodius; The Alexander Romance; and John Climacus's Ladder of Divine Ascent. Assessments include a short response paper, midterm examination, and a final research paper.

Elective

In this course, Contemporary Ecopoetries: North Americas+, students will examine poems published after 1970 in order to explore how they encounter, diagnose, and respond to environmental topics such as climate change, extinction, extractivism, (in)justice, place, and toxicity, among other concerns. As the course title indicates, one grounding assumption of the course is that there are many, differently-experienced North Americas. Authors may include Sherwin Bitsui, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Natalie Diaz, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, dg nanouk okpik, Craig Santos Perez, Juliana Spahr, and Natasha Trethewey. Course activities will include reading, analyzing, and discussing poems and critical essays, as well as regular writing assignments. These course activities will prepare students to embark on their own ecopoetries research in order to complete the final project. For the final project each student will produce a mini-anthology on a topic of their choosing that gathers, introduces, and critically responds to a set of existing ecopoetic texts.

Elective

In this course, Contemporary Ecopoetries: North Americas+, students will examine poems published after 1970 in order to explore how they encounter, diagnose, and respond to environmental topics such as climate change, extinction, extractivism, (in)justice, place, and toxicity, among other concerns. As the course title indicates, one grounding assumption of the course is that there are many, differently-experienced North Americas. Authors may include Sherwin Bitsui, Lorna Dee Cervantes, Natalie Diaz, Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, dg nanouk okpik, Craig Santos Perez, Juliana Spahr, and Natasha Trethewey. Course activities will include reading, analyzing, and discussing poems and critical essays, as well as regular writing assignments. These course activities will prepare students to embark on their own ecopoetries research in order to complete the final project. For the final project each student will produce a mini-anthology on a topic of their choosing that gathers, introduces, and critically responds to a set of existing ecopoetic texts.

Elective

This course examines the movement of people and the creation of new foods and foodways around the Indian Ocean world. Edward A. Alpers points out in The Indian Ocean in World History, the region is rich in “the uneven distribution of both natural and manufactured products,” and those uneven distributions led to a flourishing trade in spices, dates, pearls, wood, ivory, cotton, and silk. Both Perth and Mogadishu are parts of the Indian Ocean World, and it contains cultures as disparate as Bedouin and Tamil. Perhaps no region in the world has as long a history of transoceanic trade, and as people moved along those trade routes, they brought cultural beliefs and practices with them. Those trade routes are responsible for the Farsis in India and for the Gujaratis in Kenya. They are also responsible for bunny chow in Durban and pad Thai in Bangkok. Writers we will look at may include Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, Lindsay Collen, Amitav Ghosh, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Bruce Pascoe, and M.J. Vassanji.

Elective

Let's read a selection of plays by playwrights Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Suzi Lori Parks, & Jackie Sibblies Drury--three innovators who dig deep into theater's history & reclaim / reimagine foundational dramatic works. Jacobs-Jenkins engages with Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon, Everyman & Euripides' The Bacchae; Parks incorporates the play President Lincoln watched on the last night of his life & rewrites Sophocles' Antigone in a U.S. border state; while Drury looks to 20th Century television. In addition to discussing the plays as works of literature, we'll consider how we might cast, stage, & perform them. Be prepared to read aloud in class!

Elective

This past August, extensive fragments of two lost plays by the Ancient Greek tragedian Euripides were published for the first time. You will be among the first students—ever—to read and explore them in this class on Ancient Greek Tragedy. In addition to those newly discovered fragments, we read select complete plays of Euripides and his fellow Athenian poet-playwrights, Aeschylus and Sophocles, and devote special attention to key themes including: their literary structure and stagecraft; their original performative context in fifth-century BCE Athens; the history of their transmission and survival; and their reception—that is, how Prometheus Bound for example went from being a script for a play put on one spring day in Athens almost 2500 years ago, to a source of inspiration behind a black comedy series that dropped on a major streaming service this summer. Assessments include one short response paper, a midterm, and a final project. All readings in English translation.

Elective

Ekphrasis is a Greek tradition of poetry in which the poem describes a work of art through language, deeply engaging not only in the intended meaning of the art object, but the underlying sociopolitical contexts of the art object’s making, and the poet’s relationship with the object and its artist. In this class, we will consider ekphrasis as a form of art writing that not only describes art, but interrogates the histories and politics that have gone into the making of an art object. Our readings will include a variety of ekphrastic texts, including poetry, memoirs, personal and lyric essays, academic essays, and theory (Barbara Jane Reyes, Le Thi Diem Thuy, Theresa Hak Kyung Cha, Fred Moten, Arthur Jafa, Tiana Clark, Sianne Ngai, Barbara Johnson, Sally Wen Mao, Summer Kim Lee). We will also view films, visual art, performance, and digital media (Jon Berger, Caroline Garcia, Rihanna, Kara Walker, Candice Lin, Julie Tolentino). We will pay particular attention to Asian American and postcolonial literature and art, as identitarian genres attuned to the relationship between visual culture and representation.

Throughout this interdisciplinary course, we will ask such questions as: How does art orient itself toward various audiences, and for what purposes? How does art antagonize its audience, or how does it build community? How do we live with art and how does it determine not only the content of our writing, but our lives? How do we see art, and what are the politics of our viewership? How does visual culture manifest in our understanding of ourselves and each other? You will gain insight in visual culture and experience in writing that will serve as the foundation for advanced work in analytic and creative writing on art and politics. Major course assignments will include three analytical essays and weekly discussion posts. Students should expect three to five hours of reading per week (30 pages of academic writing and/or 50 pages of creative writing per session).

Elective

In this innovative course we aim to recognize and appreciate video games as a profound medium for storytelling, comparable to traditional forms of literary art. This course examines the narrative complexities, character development, and the capacity for emotional engagement within video games, offering students a fresh perspective on interactive media as a significant cultural and artistic expression. Throughout this course, we will engage with the works of scholars and artists including Nick Montfort, Ian Cheng, and Laurie Anderson. These figures have made pivotal contributions to our understanding of how narrative functions in the digital age, and their insights will guide our exploration of video games' narrative potential. A central focus of our study will be on the narrative and storytelling techniques unique to video games, emphasizing the role of interactive storytelling and player choice in crafting engaging and multifaceted narratives. Through this lens, we'll explore how video games not only tell stories but also allow players to experience and influence these narratives, creating a dynamic form of storytelling that is both immersive and participatory. Additionally, the course will delve into themes of identity and empathy, considering how video games can serve as a medium for exploring various identities and fostering empathy among players. By participating in interactive narratives, players have the opportunity to experience the world from different perspectives, enhancing their understanding of others and themselves. For the final project, students will have the option to compose an analytical or research paper that delves into a specific aspect of video game literature, or to create a creative project. This could involve designing a detailed game narrative, proposing innovative approaches to interactive storytelling, or even developing a prototype to demonstrate the narrative capabilities of video games. Through a combination of lectures, discussions, and hands-on projects, this course encourages students to critically engage with video games as a narrative medium, expanding their understanding of what constitutes literature in the digital era.

Elective

In an era defined by climate change, pandemics and live-streamed war, this digital language arts course confronts the stark realities of our time. It compels students to decolonize their imaginations and discover new ways of engaging with reality, literature, technology, and the future. We examine how language and literature mediate our relationship with the world and how digital mediums reshape our perceptions of reality and our expectations of the future. Central to this course is the critical examination and creation of digital artifacts that engage with speculative fiction. Students will confront the power of nightmares in speculative horror and explore the promise of alternate utopian visions. These explorations aim to open gateways to potential futures, using innovative literary and digital forms. Through rigorous analysis and creative experimentation, students will develop sophisticated digital artifacts that not only respond to but also critique and reimagine the pressing global crises of our time. Students will engage deeply with the material through extensive reading and weekly discussions that directly influence their creative output. Students will produce creative and critical writing in dialogue with the readings. The semester will culminate in the creation of a collection of digital and written artifacts, laying the groundwork for a rich final project that synthesizes the insights and creative explorations from the course. This course equips students with the tools to critically fabricate narratives that challenge existing paradigms and inspire forward-thinking, enabling them to contribute meaningfully to the discourse on future realities. Artists, writers, and texts include Sun Ra, Sondra Perry, Hito Steyerl, Tabita Rezaire, Gerald Vizenor, Eduardo Viveiros De Castro, Ian Cheng, Sadiya Hartman, Jason Mohaghegh, Larissa Sansour, and selected short stories from "Palestine +100: Stories From a Century After the Nakba" and "Iraq +100: Stories from Another Iraq.

Elective

The ancient Greeks imagined a tribe of warrior women at the edge of civilization, and Western culture has never forgotten them. This course will explore ancient and modern ideas of masculinity and femininity through the lens of stories, art, and film from antiquity to the present about the Amazons and their reimagined sisters in fantasy, science-fiction, and pop culture.  But what is an “Amazon,” anyway? Do they have any basis in reality? Why have “women warriors” been so fascinating in myth, legend, and history? What can stories about Amazons teach us about gender and culture? How do ancient ideas about femininity affect contemporary society and pop culture? Readings may include ancient Greek texts like Aristophanes’ Lysistrata and Euripides’ Medea  (all in English translation), DC Comics' Wonder Woman as well as its TV and film adaptations, and secondary material from Adrienne Mayor’s Amazons, Keira Williams’ Amazons in America, Jill Lepore’s Secret History of Wonder Woman et al. Assignments will include weekly reading/viewing responses (discussion posts or low-stakes papers), a short project or presentation on “Visualizing Amazons,” and a larger 8-10 page research paper.

Elective

Since the early Hollywood years, films have played a major role in the way American mainstream culture inscribes queerness: the many and diverse queer communities, identities, and experiences. This course begins with an examination of earlier representations of queerness in Hollywood films, tracing queer cinematic images throughout the early 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. We will screen queer films such as Nazimova's Salome (1922) and The Killing of Sister George (1968) to analyze their representations of queer identity and examine what they signify to us today. Our examination of queer film will address the following questions: What is gay or lesbian film? What is a queer film? What are the ways in which the discourses of race, gender, and sexuality are interrelated and deployed? The latter half of the course also will examine selected films and documentaries from the new emerging queer cinema and a selection of film shorts that are currently running in queer film festivals.

Elective