We will begin the quarter by situating “passing” narratives within more familiar literary frameworks: the Gothic novel, Protestantism, and the captivity narrative. Readings for this class will center on various forms of passing—the ability to move undetected between multiple categories without fitting completely into any one. The passing figure is particularly interesting because he/she destabilizes tidy socially-constructed categories, and proves through the ability to transgress boundaries that these categories are not as impermeable as society finds comfort in believing. Our use of the term “passing,” as some might expect, will not be limited to racially indeterminate figures; we will also consider problematic forms of cultural and national hybridism, sexuality, gender, and socioeconomic class. Our literary travels will cross continents and span a period of roughly four hundred years.

Our reading will include a small handful of novels, and a considerably larger selection of short stories, excerpted works, and secondary material tentatively to include: John Milton, Horace Walpole, Mary Rowlandson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Herman Melville, Mark Twain, Edith Wharton, Charles Chesnutt, William Faulkner, Phillip Roth, and Annie Proulx.

*Course pack (Available at Ave Copy: 4141 University Way)

Course requirements: The final grade will be based on regular contribution to class discussion, several writing assignments, and the final exam. As this is a “W” course, writing will play a key role in analyzing the assigned literature. Each student will be required to write two short analytical essays (3-4 pages in length each), one major essay (5-7 pages), as well as revisions of each.