SEMINAR PROFILE

H04 -
Literature, Film, and the Political Imagination

Many of us who teach or read literature distinguish between "good" literature, defined in terms of language, style and character, and "political" literature, often dismissed as didactic or ideological, and thus of lower quality. But is this distinction true? Much depends on how we define "political." If it refers not to partisan and ideological writing, but to writing rooted in social, moral, ethical, and cultural issues, then much "good" literature is also "political," illuminating, complicating, and exploring political issues. In this sense, Mrs. Dalloway is about the horrors of war as well as a society party, and "Sonny's Blues" is about the scars of racism as well as the relationship between two brothers. In this class we'll read fiction and poetry and watch films from different cultures and times, from race in America to Eastern European tyranny to the Troubles in Ireland. All of them place human experiences and emotions in a social and political context. We'll ask what makes these texts "political," if indeed they are, and what literature tells us that a political or historical discussion might not.

Scholar:

Ann Murphy

Location:

Harvard Hillel

Dates:

1/25/2017, 2/2/2017

H04 -	Literature, Film, and the Political Imagination

	Many of us who teach or read literature distinguish between "good" literature, defined in terms of language, style and character, and "political" literature, often dismissed as didactic or ideological, and thus of lower quality. But is this distinction true? Much depends on how we define "political." If it refers not to partisan and ideological writing, but to writing rooted in social, moral, ethical, and cultural issues, then much "good" literature is also "political," illuminating, complicating, and exploring political issues. In this sense, Mrs. Dalloway is about the horrors of war as well as a society party, and "Sonny's Blues" is about the scars of racism as well as the relationship between two brothers. In this class we'll read fiction and poetry and watch films from different cultures and times, from race in America to Eastern European tyranny to the Troubles in Ireland. All of them place human experiences and emotions in a social and political context. We'll ask what makes these texts "political," if indeed they are, and what literature tells us that a political or historical discussion might not.

		Scholar:	Ann Murphy
		Location:	Harvard Hillel
		Dates:	1/25/2017, 2/2/2017