Humanities Arts Cultural Stu 0224 - Literature and Visuality

Words and pictures are, we know, different beasts. Yet theories of literature and of the image often rely on a common set of ideas -- about the nature of representation or figuration, or about the power of fiction and imagination. This course will explore the many intersections and tensions between literary and visual paradigms. We will be particularly interested in the different status accorded texts and images with respect to epistemological and ideological questions. How do verbal and visual understandings of mimesis, deception, and revelation differ? To what extent are ideas about the image always presupposed by theories of language? How do processes of re-mediation and transcultural appropriation intervene in existing paradigms? Possible readings in Roque Dalton, Denis Diderot, Assia Djebar, Gustave Flaubert, E.T.A. Hoffmann, John Keats, Stephane Mallarme, and Jean Paulhan; additional readings in Alloula, Baudelaire, Benjamin, Derrida, Foucault, Kofman, Nietzsche, Plato, and Wainaina.

Writing and Research Multiple Cultural Perspectives Independent Work Students are expected to spend 6-8 hours per week in preparation and work outside of class time.