ENGL 106(S) Telling Secrets+
Why do so many literary classics (and popular forms) focus on gossip, confession, and expose? This course will examine how different literary forms "tell" or withhold their secrets, and how secrecy is constructed and used in literature. Many readers have compared the act of interpreting a literary text to discovering its "secret meaning"-is this a helpful way of conceiving of literary interpretation? Using the topic of secrecy as a guide, through reading a wide range of literary texts and genres, we will explore what it means to write and read critically about literature. These questions will focus our inquiry: What sorts of literary genres are known for their secrets-the detective story, the Gothic novel, the Shakespearean comedy, narratives of racial and sexual "passing"? How do writers structure their narratives of secrecy and revelation? Do all narrators keep (or not keep) secrets in the same way? What separates private secrets (sexual, erotic, or familial) from public positions (such as Irish liberation or racial uplift)? How do race, gender, sexuality, and class influence both what constitutes a "secret" and how that secret must be kept or divulged? Readings may include works by Poe, Wyatt, Dickinson, Shakespeare, Hacker, Bishop, Bront#, Morrison, Kogawa, James, Diaz and Chesnutt; and films may include Citizen Kane and The Crying Game. Requirements: 15-20 pages in the form of short papers. No prerequisites. Enrollment limited to 19. Two sections.