Gender & Writing (386-0-20)
Topic
Sexual Forms: The Criminal
Instructors
Tyler Lee Blakeney
Meeting Info
Kresge Centennial Hall 2-410: Tues, Thurs 2:00PM - 3:20PM
Overview of class
The history of same-sex sexuality is often structured around a divide between the modern and pre-modern, where the modern is defined by the invention of homosexual identity around 1870 and the increasing hegemony of that identity into the present. In this course, we will challenge this periodization by tracing a social and sexual form, the criminal, across the modern divide. Starting in the 1830s and going through the present, we will interrogate the ways in which the social form of the criminal was also associated with same-sex sexuality. How does the association between criminality and same-sex sexuality challenge the idea that same-sex sexuality was unspeakable or uncategorizable before the invention of homosexuality? How does the persistence of this "pre-modern" sexual category into the twentieth century challenge the idea of the hegemony of modern sexual identity?
We will draw on a range of text types from 1830 to the present (all in French), including literary and filmic texts, but also scientific and legal texts produced by prison officials and texts from popular culture including illustrated humorous books and newspaper reports. In addition, we will read brief theoretical or secondary texts in English and in French. The first half of the course will be on the 19th century and the second half will be on film from across the twentieth century. Discussion in French.
Class Materials (Required)
Victor Hugo, Le Dernier Jour d'un condamné
Daumier, Les Cent et un Robert Macaire
Pierre-François Lacenaire, Mémoires
Honoré de Balzac, Vautrin (play)
Georges Méliès, Robert Macaire et Bertrand
Jean Epstein, Les Aventures de Robert Macaire
Marcel Carné, Les Enfants du paradis
Francis Girod, Lacenaire
Class Attributes
Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area
Global Perspectives on Power, Justice, and Equity
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: Prerequisite: Students must have completed FRENCH 271-0, FRENCH 272-0, or FRENCH 273-0. Other students may register with instructor permission.