Studies in Literature and Culture (385-0-21)

Topic

Romantic Obsession, Colonial Possession

Instructors

Johana Staza Godfrey

Meeting Info

Kresge Centennial Hall 3-410: Tues, Thurs 12:30PM - 1:50PM

Overview of class

Pocahontas and John Smith are making goofy, animated eyes at each other as British colonials push further into the New England interior. Outlander's Claire and Jamie steal passionate moments during the fight for Scottish independence. And when he died, David Ochterlony—British Resident to the Mughal Court in the early 1800s—left behind thirteen Indian wives. This course asks: how and why are the tropes of possessive romance so often refigured in the colonial context? What can tracing these affects, fetishes, and motifs allow us to uncover about the emotional resonances of imperialist discourse and resistance? After grounding ourselves in classic tales of romantic obsession, we will map these romantic forms onto larger concepts of empire. Edward Said described the Orientalist impulse as "fatally tend[ing] toward the systematic accumulation of human beings and territories." To trace these fatal, obsessive drives to possess, we will move from the classic novels like Brontë's Wuthering Heights and George Orwell's Burmese Days to shorter texts such as Marguerite Duras's The Lover and Jhumpa Lahiri's "Sexy." We will contextualize our readings with postcolonial theory.

Teaching Method

Seminar discussion, group exercises.

Evaluation Method

Participation, discussion posts, short analytical paper, final project.

Class Materials (Required)

Texts include: Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847); George Orwell's Burmese Days (1934); Jamaica Kincaid's "Girl" (1973); Jane Campion's The Piano (1993); Jhumpa Lahiri, "Sexy" (1998); Pocahontas (1995); Park Chan-wook, Decision to Leave (2022).

Class Attributes

Advanced Expression
Literature and Arts Foundational Discipline
Literature & Fine Arts Distro Area