ENGL 126(S) Stupidity and Intelligence+
Stupidity fascinates authors, and they do not merely despise it-they feel it and make us feel it. Why? Around the same time that psychologists began measuring and ranking intelligences-and stupidity, under various names, of course occupied the space below (average) intelligence-literary authors were finding types of stupidity within intelligence. What is literary stupidity? (Can one be specifically a bad reader not just of books but of life?) And why can't it stay sequestered? We shall be reading stories, novellas, and novels by these authors (and others): Flaubert, Conrad, Melville, Nabokov, and Henry James; and we shall be viewing such films as Forrest Gump and (conceivably) Mr. Death. Requirements: active class participation, five papers totaling 15-20 pages. No prerequisites. Enrollment limited to 19. Two sections.