This class will introduce students to critical reading strategies across a variety of genres, including novels, drama, short stories, film, television, and experimental writing. Each of texts in this class shares a common focus on the human body. By reading, discussing, and writing about our texts, we will inquire into the representation of the body and its connection to writing. In what ways are bodies “written”? How do we understand the body in writing? What happens when we write on a body or with a body?

Texts will include: Gray’s Anatomy, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Man with the Twisted Lip”, Neil La Bute’s The Shape of Things, Franz Kafka’s “The Penal Colony”, Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior, Sarah Hall’s The Electric Michelangelo, Shelley Jackson’s “Skin” and Melancholy of Anatomy, Doug Wright’s Quills, episodes of House and Bones, The Twisted Twin’s film American Mary, and the Peter Greenaway film The Pillow Book

This course satisfies the “W” requirement, which means that students will be required to produce 10-15 pages of graded writing throughout the quarter. This will take the form of several short response papers and two 5-7 page papers (one due at mid-term, one due at the end of the term). Other assignments may include small research assignments, short writing assignments, and reading quizzes.

Required Texts:

Henry T. Gray, Gray’s Anatomy (ISBN: 978-0914294085)

Sarah Hall, The Electric Michaelangelo (ISBN: 0060817240)

Neil La Bute, The Shape of Things (ISBN: 978-0881452228)

Doug Wright, Quills (ISBN: 978-0571211807)

Shelly Jackson, The Melancholy of Anatomy (ISBN: 978-0385721202)