Topics in Literature
Topic: Riot, Revolution, Reading
Class Information
Instructor: Bernes, Jasper
CRN: 21903
Time: TR 12:10-1:30
Location: 192 Young
Description
The title says it all: we'll read stories, novels, poems, and essays in English about riots, revolutions, and everything in between: the rebellion, the uprising, the insurrection. These activities pose basic problems for literature (how do you represent a collective action? how can one grasp such intensities without counterfeiting or romanticizing? what kind of writing goes with such politics?) But they also pose basic questions about the nature of social struggle. about the limits and possibilities of social movements, and about how we win. As we live through our own age of dramatic and dramatized politics, we turn to some examples mostly from the recent past that confront this set of puzzles. Keywords: race, class, gender, capitalism, colonization, urbanism, crisis, immigration, Detroit, Newark, Los Angeles, Oakland, Tottenham.
Grading
Two essays, final exam, four sets of reading notes, attendance & participation.
Texts
The Riot Inside Me, Wanda Coleman
Letters Against the Firmament, Sean Bonney
That Winter the Wolf Came, Juliana Spahr
The Spook Who Sat By the Door, Sam Greenlee
October, China Mieville