636: History of Literary Criticism

2LGDA 0185 M/W 6:00-8:05 RZ 224 ROTTENSTREICH

723: Studies in Romantic Literature

2LGDA 0184 M/W 6:00-8:05 KP 333 SPECTOR

This seminar in Blake will explore the ways this poet/engraver of the Romantic period used the combination of his verbal and visual art to come to terms with the world around him. After reading some of the early books that deal with contemporary issues, such as rational philosophy, organized religion, women’s rights and the slave trade, we will then focus on Jerusalem, the major work in which this self-proclaimed Christian prophet articulates his unique form of spirituality.

781: Gay, Lesbian, and Transgender Literature and Culture: 1950s-Today

2LGDA 0547 M/W 6:00-8:05 KP 710 CAMARASANA

The 1969 Stonewall rebellion, often considered the inaugural event of the gay and lesbian rights movement, arguably also heralded the emergence and greater visibility of contemporary gay and lesbian culture. In this seminar we will examine fiction, essays, poetry, autobiography and film from the

period leading up to Stonewall to today in the context of the emergence of a highly politicized gay, lesbian, transgender and/or queer subculture. What do political struggles and creative expressions tell us about the problems and possibilities of forming culture and community around sex and gender identity? We will also read some queer theory to help frame an understanding of how such creative endeavors challenge conventional notions of gender and sexuality. Authors to be read may include James Baldwin, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Dorothy Allison, Tony Kushner, Jeanette Winterson, Leslie Feinberg, Edmund White and Essex Hemphill.

781: Milton

2LXXB 0186 T/TH 6:00-8:05 KP 710 MAROTTA

This course will focus on Milton’s Paradise Lost as a major example of the visionary epic. We will examine the intellectual, theological and mythical contexts of the poem and then move on to such issues as sexual politics, the rhetoric of the Divine voice, the rhetoric of the of Satanic voice, and the representations of Adam and Eve. Milton made a number of poetic choices that have endeared him to some readers and alienated him from others. We will look at these choices in the context of an epic poem that is very much the heir to non-Christian classical epic tradition and, at the same time, the recipient of a very specific Christian theological position. This tension engenders some of the more problematical elements in Paradise Lost. Active participation and two ten page papers are required.