ENGL 207 Literary Bodies: Symptoms and Prescriptions (LT)
Bodies house the essence of identity and represent that identity to the world. Bodies are also written on by that world; they are marked by such things as disease, trauma, and societal expectations of gender, race, and class—the symptoms of life’s circumstances. In this course, we will consider the representation of bodies in literature from the 19th century to the present and examine how social, cultural, historical, and scientific expectations prescribe our responses to the marked body. Although not a scientific study itself, this course will encourage students to encounter scientific thought and medical practices through the narrative imagination.
Because this is a 200-level literature course, it is also an introduction to major literary types including short fiction, novel, nonfiction, poetry, drama, and film. We will consider works in each of these categories, paying particular attention to the ways in which they intertwine with and inform one another as well as to how they distinguish themselves from each other. Throughout the term you should expect to gain confidence in your approach to a literary text—and, therefore, any text—as well as in your analytical and critical thinking and writing skills.
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