Literature Courses

001 In Person
Thu 3:30-6:00 PM
Instructor: Jennifer Jenkins

Bearing in mind that “Southwest” is a contested category, we will explore the greater US Southwest/Norte de México/Borderlands as image, motif, and location in oral narrative and texts, in still and moving images, and in material culture from 1000 BCE to the present. We will examine how understandings of place shape identity in: depictions of the land; social and cultural deserts and borders; boom/bust cycles; the mirage of the “land of enchantment;” and representations of indigenous and insurgent cultures. Whenever possible, we will embrace place-based learning in the rich array local archaeological and historical sites, archives, and repositories, and explore literary geography as both on-the-ground concept and digital expression. Optional field trips to local cultural sites. Students will develop a research-based critical (journal article or conference presentation) or creative (short film, digital iteration, multi-modal narrative) project in consultation with me.

001 In Person
M/W 3:30-4:45 PM 
Instructor: Steph Brown

Decadence is more than a late-nineteenth-century phenomenon in England or France. We’ll consider its global scope, aesthetic signatures, and range of meanings. We’ll consider it as a bridge between nineteenth and twentieth centuries, both of which we’ll study. Decadence is associated with cultural decline and the fall of empires. It embraces “degenerate” transgressions and rethinks what is “natural” or naturalized. We’ll scrutinize decadent empire in its ostentation and excess, as well as self-styled decadent artists in their “perversions” that threaten empire’s norms. Decadence connects us to aestheticism, horror, symbolism, surrealism, and the weird, among other movements and subgenres. Decadence engages us with Orientalism and constructions of race. Decadent literary and visual arts also raise questions about queerness and feminism at the fin de siècle. 

We’ll take up one scholar’s idea that decadence in Victorian England is a response to the disappointment of Romantic-era revolutionary hopes, which have fizzled into bourgeois imperialism. We’ll also consider decadence in conjunction with disappointed revolutionary hopes for decolonization and with anti-colonial resistance in the mid-twentieth century, as another scholar proposes we do. We’ll ask whether decadent art, in this context, is emblematic of European and American empire or undermining of it. We’ll consider how the practices and attitudes that accrue to the term “decadence“ belong to myriad contexts, without losing their specificity. We’ll see why both conservatives and revolutionaries have criticized decadence. We’ll read several novels in weekly installments, piece by piece, as well as poetry, short stories, and drama. Authors may include Baudelaire, Fanon, Rachilde, and Wilde.

001 In Person
Tue 3:30-6:00 PM
Instructor: Johanna Skibsrud

“ ‘You are your” “Past, Present,” “& Future,’ he said” ” ‘You divide into” “those components” “in this room’ ” ” ‘But I do not have” “components!’ ” “our three voices said…” – Alice Notley, from The Descent of Allette

Moving across genre, disciplines, and historical periods, this seminar examines the literary first person in relation to the formation, and ongoing evolution, of the modern subject.  We’ll consider the influence of a range of discourses including legal testimony, lyric theory, philosophy, feminist theory, and critical race theory. This course is open to both literature and creative writing students and assignment options will include creative and critical components for all students with a final assignment that reflects the expectations and goals of each program (i.e., a 20-25 page critical paper will serve as the final assignment for literature students and a creative portfolio of equal length will be serve as the final assignment for creative writers). Students will also be expected to deliver a 20-minute presentation at some point in the semester on a topic and text of their choice. Literary readings will include micro-readings of lyric poetry and the first sentences of many novels. It will also include longer readings and full texts of work ranging from modern and contemporary poetry, fiction and autofiction (Alice Notley, George Saunders, Rachel Cusk) to Modernist classics (Delmore Schwartz, Samuel Beckett, Susan Taubes) and include considerations of Greek tragedy, the carnivalesque, and early legal testimony. Excerpts from critical and philosophical texts, including by Aristotle, Descartes, Roland Barthes, Simone Weil, Luce Irigaray, and Fred Moten, will inform our readings and guide such questions as:  What can we learn from close readings of the literary first person about contemporary conceptions of subjectivity and the private voice? How might a consideration of diverse approaches to the literary first person create new possibilities for our own reading and writing practices?  

“How to graduate-student.” This colloquium meets every other week, and it is a requirement for first year students. Our meetings will include information about the program, an introduction to the profession, and tips on navigating graduate student life.

This workshop meets every other week. We will discuss career paths and goals, prepare application materials, and learn about different approaches to the process of going “on the market.”

005 In Person
Time TBD
Instructor: John Melillo

This writing workshop is for students who are ABD and who are at any stage of their dissertation writing. Whether you are working on your initial proposal or your final chapter, we will meet once a week to discuss writing strategies, workshop chapters or sections, and create accountability for your writing goals.