Topics in Comparative Literature: Dante's Inferno
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| This course examines Dante's Inferno in its cultural, social and political context. In particular we will explore how the underground world imagined by the poet relates to late medieval urban life and culture. To this end we will study Dante's masterpiece alongside textual and visual documents of his age, including selections from major works of literature, political science, historiography and visual arts. Ample use will be made of audio-visual resources as well as of reading and in-class discussion. Counts toward the Comparative & World Literature specialization. |
Special Topics: The Beats: Conformity and Aesthetics
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| In this course, we will be examining the process by which art grapples with political, moral, and sexual conformity. Amid the unparalleled material wealth of the immediate post-World War II era, America seemed locked into conflict with an implacable foe. The very definition of what it meant to be American was contested, and "UnAmerican" activities denounced, UnAmerican people blacklisted or worse. Yet artists and writers like William S. Burroughs, Gregory Corso, Diane DiPrima, Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and others refused to conform, and produced art which interrogated and resisted the culture. We will read both seminal and less-famous works by Beat Generation authors in the context of Cold War ideology and literary aesthetics, with special concentration on the politics and processes of identity formation and subject position. Counts toward the American Literature specialization. |
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