English 189-1 - Spring, 2013

Seminar in Literary Studies

Topic: Literature, Sovereignty, and Violence, from the Early Modern to the Modern

Class Information

Instructor: Loar, Christopher
CRN: 42480
Time: TR 1:40-3:00
Location: 248 Voorhies

Description

This course will examine literary and philosophical representations of political violence, particularly its more spectacular manifestations (tyranny, “terrorism,” insurrection, genocide, and massacre). The course will cover a broad historical range, beginning with early modern texts and ending in the twenty-first century, but will center on a small number of critical historical junctures (the early modern crisis in British monarchy; the American Revolution; late colonialism and postcolonial violence).

Required texts for the course are listed below. Readings will also be found in a course packet to include philosophical, literary, and critical texts, including excerpts from Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Edmund Burke, Rene Girard, Karl Marx, Walter Benjamin, Michel Foucault, and Giorgio Agamben.

Grading

Evaluation for the course will be based on

· Active participation in class discussions (20%);

· Weekly response papers (20%);

· Research paper (approx. 12 pages), as well as shorter assignments to prepare for this paper (35%);

· A research presentation based on the research paper (10%);

· A final exam (15%)

Percentages listed here are approximate and subject to change.

Texts

Coriolanus, Shakespeare
Oroonoko, the Rover, and Other Works, Behn
Doctor Faustus and Other Plays, Marlowe
Edgar Huntly, Brown
Links, Farah