Sexuality in Literature: From Giovanni's Room to Fun Home

GENED 1176 Subject & Catalog Number

Description

What is the relationship between literature, social change, and sexual identity?

In this course, we’ll learn how sexual identity and desire are understood and represented in different social and historical circumstances, We’ll move beyond the binary of identifying images as “positive” or “negative,” paying attention to how depictions, definitions, and understandings of sexuality are shaped by specific historical moments, as well as the aesthetic traditions and personal experiences shaping these individual works. In addition to novels, we’ll look at op-eds, essays, poems, photography, and film with an eye to thinking about how different genres speak to the larger world of politics, activism, and popular culture.

Learning how to decode metaphors and images in novels, films, and other works will make you a more sophisticated reader of the texts that circulate outside the classroom. As you sharpen your ability to critically analyze these works as products of particular political and historical moments, you will become a more nuanced reader of the world around you, able to think critically about other texts (not only literature, but memes, videos, blogs, games, and advertising) that circulate in our own cultural moment and their crucial relationship to identity and social change.

Course Notes

This course counts for the Certificate for Civic Engagement. The Certificate for Civic Engagement recognizes Harvard College students who have demonstrated sustained participation in public service and civic involvement during their undergraduate experience.