This course is designed to tackle the two main complaints about theory: one, that it is alienatingly abstract; and two, that theory doesn’t make sense once you try to explain it to people outside the English major. How to make theory an extension of self-making, and remove it from the role of merciless taskmaster? And is it possible to communicate theoretical ideas in “plain English”?

The general theme for the quarter circles around the issue of pain, which is so viscerally real and rooted in the body that it seems to be the antithesis of cerebral and intangible theory. Selected texts by Stephen Greenblatt, Elaine Scarry, and Eric Hayot examine how bodily feeling translates into the impulse to narrate, and then how these narrations create cultural systems of feeling that regulate the distribution of who is recognized as fully human. The small number of texts for this quarter means that we will have the luxury of time to think about form and motivation, as well as content. Each of the authors selected are not only pondering similar philosophical questions, but (at least to my mind) do better than most in using different approaches to communicate ideas with clarity. We will be doing a lot of exploratory writing this quarter to give you practice in working theoretical language into a grammar and syntax that makes sense to you, and to understand the relations!
hip between identity and critical practice.

Please note: 1) all texts for this course will be available on .pdf; and 2) no addcodes are available before the first week of the class.