Writers and their Critics (334-0-1)
Instructors
Peter D Fenves
847/467-2966
1880 Campus Drive, Kresge 3329
Office Hours: Mon, 12 - 1:30 PM and by appointment
Meeting Info
Fisk Hall 114: Tues, Thurs 11:00AM - 12:20PM
Overview of class
Almost a hundred years after his untimely death in 1924 Kafka's literary, cultural, and political significance has only ever increased, for his uncanny imaginary—often populated by animals—continues to speak with renewed urgency to readers across the globe. This seminar is divided into three parts. In the first, we will be reading a series of Kafka's shorter writings, ranging from "The Transformation [Metamorphosis]" to some fragments about a man who, though dead, sails on the rivers of the earth. In the second part, we will read three writers who absorbed the exactness of Kafka's imaginary into their own work: Jorge Luis Borges, Ingeborg Bachmann, and J. M. Coetzee. In the final part, we will return to Kafka, and ask ourselves how we see his writing now that we've encountered some of his most transformative readers. During the first two parts, students write brief responses to each week's reading; at the end of the second part, students submit an abstract of their final essay; the third part is reserved for the process of essay writing. No knowledge of German or Spanish is required.
Learning Objectives
1) Acquire a familiarity with one of the most important and influential forms of literary modernity across the globe.
2) Practice a form of rigorous literary analysis in and across single works.
3) Produce critical analysis of one or several literary works through a process of stage-wise revision.
Teaching Method
seminar
Evaluation Method
Class participation
Paper, final
Writing assignments
Class Materials (Required)
All texts other than the following one are available in PDF form on canvas:•
J. M. Coetzee, "The Life and Times of Michael K" (Penguin, 1985): ISBN-13: 978-0140074482
Class Attributes
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area