Seminar in Reading and Interpretation (300-0-22)

Topic

Swindlers, Charlatans & Cheats: Literature of the

Instructors

Adam Cody Syvertsen

Meeting Info

Harris Hall L04: Mon, Wed 11:00AM - 12:20PM

Overview of class

Scams have taken a central place in recent culture, providing Netflix and Hulu with seemingly endless material for documentaries and docuseries, from Fyre Island to Anna Delvey, Elizabeth Holmes, and the so-called Tinder Swindler, to name just a few. Some have even suggested that scams—and our obsession with them—are a particularly Millennial phenomenon. But scamming, and literature about scammers, has a long and rich history, from Herman Melville's Confidence Man, to the Wizard in L Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz, F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby, or the protagonist of the recent Oscar-nominated remake of Nightmare Alley. This course surveys a selection of literature, film, TV, and podcasts about scams and scammers, explores historic and contemporary discourse about scams, and interrogates and critiques the current cultural obsession with them.

Teaching Method

Discussion-based seminar.

Evaluation Method

Mid-term presentation and final essay.

Class Materials (Required)

Herman Melville, The Confidence Man. Frank L. Baum, The Wizard of Oz. F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby.

Texts will be available at Norris.

Class Attributes

Attendance at 1st class mandatory