Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey

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FYSE1535A-F20

Literary Borders

Literary Borders
In this course examines imaginative possibilities of the border in literary and visual texts. We will consider how writers portray cultural, national, temporal, and linguistic frontiers; how literature embodies the experience of crossing or dwelling within borderlands; how texts reinforce or transgress the boundaries at which we are positioned as readers; and how writing itself can construct and bridge differences. Reading poems and stories of liminal figures—em/immigrants, expatriates, exiles, animals, misfits, racial others, queers, and adventurers—we will analyze how borders challenge our ideas about place, body, identity, language, and text. In encounters with hybrid genres and multimedia texts that disrupt the way we read, we will explore the edges of language. For a broader picture of the border in the human imagination, we will also turn to films and other arts. Texts may include Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, Justin Torres’ We the Animals, James Baldwin’s Giovanni’s Room, and Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, among others. 3 hrs. sem.
Course Reference Number (CRN):
91800
Subject Code:
FYSE
Course Number:
1535
Section Identifier:
A

Course

FYSE 1535

All Sections in Fall 2020

Fall 2020

FYSE1535A-F20 Seminar (Cassarino)