In this class we will read texts and view images (paintings and films) in order to discuss representations of the exotic in European literary and visual culture. The course material will allow us to critically examine the imaginary assumptions Europeans made about the exotic: the exotic as distant and foreign, as strangely beautiful and enticing, as wild and primitive, as archaic and original, and as spiritual and authentic. We will focus on the strategies storytellers undertook in order to perpetuate these fantastic beliefs about the exotic, such as the use of particular word choice, tone, and sentence structure, as well as the specific ways in which characters and settings were drawn in exotic tales. Class discussion will unravel the ways in which norms and expectations entrenched in European contexts and traditions prompted readers and audiences to view the exotic in a biased fashion. We will critically compare and contrast exotic representations between media and different historical contexts. The course material includes Frances Sheridan The History of Nourjahad, William Beckford Vathek, E. T. A. Hoffmann “The Golden Pot,” Hugo von Hofmannsthal “The Tale of the 672nd Night,” Somerset Maugham The Moon and Sixpence, examples of European Oriental paintings, and two films: F. W. Murnau’s Tabu and Mira Nair’s Kama Sutra.
Course assignments involve writing activities for each class session, group work and participation in class discussion, and a five-page final analytical paper.