This seminar will critically survey a number of contemporary genres and literary and visual forms, focusing on the representation of violence. We will concede that violence is of course the limit of representation. Indeed, this might be one definition of violence. However, we will also pursue thesis that varying forms and genres of representation reveal or mask better than others the violence they seek to capture. Because there is no universal "violence" that can be studied in its various representations, we will be examining specific formations of violence and certain hegemonic genres for their social representation. The violences to be discussed include: state violence, sexual violence, war, AIDS, and racial violence. Genres to be studied include: realism, visual documentary film, contemporary performance art, modernism, and sociology.