ENGL 342(S) Representing Sexualities: U.S. Traditions (Same as Women's and Gender Studies 342) (W)
In this course we will explore the way literary and other cultural texts produced in the U.S. represent and construct queer sexualities. We will start with works considered to be some of the "first" definitively and/or openly queer writings in America, and consider how they set the terms and tropes for representing queer identities, identifications and desires. From the outset, we will also consider how sexuality and race, as well as gender and ethnicity, intersect in these texts. We will then move to study two rich cultural spaces: Harlem and Paris of American expatriates. Baldwin's Giovanni's Room will serve as a bridge to fifties culture. In this section we may discuss pulp fiction, queer subcultures, and the emergence of openly lesbian and gay writings. Finally the course will focus on cultural texts from the last twenty years that represent the racial, ethnic, and class diversity of queer communities, as well as the richness of its literary and cultural forms. Some of the main questions we will consider are: What historical shifts and social conditions enable the formation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered identities? How is the emergence of these identities tied to shifts in conceptualizing race in the U.S.? How is desire itself racialized? What role does the literary and/or reading play in the constitution of identity and community? What are the rewards and limits of established literary genres (such as the novel) when called upon to represent queer lives? When do such lives need new literary and cultural forms? To what degree do queer literatures constitute a canon, or multiple canons, with identifiable relations between older and more recent texts? Readings may include works by authors and theorists such as Whitman, Dickinson, James, Hughes, Nugent, Grimké, Larsen, Stein, Barnes, Baldwin, Bannon, Isherwood, Highsmith, Rich, Delany, Lourde, Moraga, Troyana, Kushner, Fisher, Cuadros, Chee, Zamorra, Sedgwick, Eng, Harper, Somerville, Foucault, Muņoz, and Rupp. Format: discussion/seminar. Requirements: class participation, two 5-page papers, one longer paper, short writing assignments, and oral presentation. Prerequisites: a 100-level English course, except 150, or permission of the instructor. Enrollment limit: 19 (expected: 15). This course is part of the Critical Reasoning and Analytic Skills initiative. (Post-1900)
Hour: KENT