Το Σώμα στη Σύγχρονη Αμερικανική Λογοτεχνία

Preparatory questions:

What are the criteria for defining the “beautiful”? Are these criteria stable, or do they change with time and place?

What qualities (good or bad) do we associate with beauty?

Is beauty truly “in the eye of the beholder,” or is this just consolation for ugly people?

If inner beauty is supposedly so much superior than outer one, why is it so hard to detect and appreciate?

Think about the future of humankind, and try to imagine the ideals of beauty that might exist in, say, 100 years from now

Supplementary readings:

Simone de Beauvoir, all excerpts

Preparatory questions:

Consider terms like “mutant,” “genetically modified organism (GMO),” “nanotechnology,” “prosthetics,” “bioengineering,” “clone,” “robotics,” “cybernetics,” “cyborg.” Do any of those apply to your immediate reality? If not now, do you think you’ll be likely to deal with those elements in the future?

Do you think it is inevitable that people will react towards other people with bias on the basis of their appearance? What factors exacerbate or mitigate such an attitude?

What do you think future humankind will look like? Why?

Supplementary readings:

Edward Said, “From Orientalism”

Donna Haraway, “A Manifesto for Cyborgs”

Preparatory questions:

Think of a list of words or images connected with manhood and pay attention to their similarities and differences. Is there some common conclusion to be derived?

Are there models of masculinity same as models of femininity? Are they equally unfair and limiting?

Do you think patriarchy is anthropologically inevitable or a matter of historical circumstance?

What professions would you deem unthinkable for a man? Why?

Supplementary readings:

Louis Althusser, all excerpts

Preparatory questions:

Take a few minutes to review the papers relevant to Margaret Edson’s play Wit; How do you think the title relates to the subject?

What do you think should improve about hospitals? About the care and medical treatment of terminal patients? What particularities of the ailing/hurting/disabled body should they address?

Look up the name of Dr. Jack Kevorkian online. Do you see an allusion in the play?

Look up the term “mediaeval passion play” and try to relate it to the film

Can intellect or education truly help us overcome our fear of death and disease? How is the play affected by the fact that the suffering protagonist is an intellectual?

Supplementary readings:

Jacques Derrida, “From Of Grammatology and from Dissemination”

Preparatory questions:

Have you ever thought about death, or terminal illness? If yes, on what occasion? How did it make you feel?

How is death physically portrayed in your culture?

Do you imagine an afterlife? If yes, what do bodies look like in it?

What do you know about AIDS? Do you know any people who are HIV-positive? Do you think it is different that other illnesses?

Theoretician Theodor Adorno said, “To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric.” Do you think suffering, dead or sick bodies should be a subject for art, or should artists show some respect and refrain?

Supplementary readings:

Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno, “From The Culture Industry”

Do you think there are issues related to the body one should not discuss in public?

Think of body parts used as offensive words. Which one is worse, do you think, “cunt,” “dick,” or “asshole”? Why isn’t somebody as insulted when called, e.g., “a foot”?

Look up “Vagina Day Project” online, and read the relevant material. What do you think about initiatives like that? Would they work in your country?

Had it ever occurred to you that women and men might think differently because of their genital (or other) anatomy? Or is it just the way that society signifies those that creates difference?

Supplementary readings:

Judith Butler, all excerpts from Gender Trouble

Preparatory questions:

In what ways is creativity like procreativity?

In what ways is our body like a text? Can flesh be influenced by texts?

What are your views on abortion?

Do you think women make better writers, or men do?

Supplementary readings:

Slavoj Zizek, “Courtly Love”

Preparatory questions:

Look up the term “metabody” online: how many different interpretations does it broach?

How do people imagine their metaphysical bodies (i.e., in the afterlife, on spiritual dimensions, or in dreams)? Do you think these images are influenced by physical reality?

What are your views on euthanasia? On assisted suicide?

Supplementary readings:

Julia Kristeva, “From Revolution in Poetic Language”

Preparatory questions:

What is your opinion about gay people? Where and how do we draw the line on what is sexually acceptable?

What is your opinion about people who break the law?

What do people seek when they express themselves sexually?

Are we defined by what we think of ourselves, or by what other people call us?

Supplementary readings:

Jacques Lacan, all excerpts

Consider and categorize the different kinds of minority or alternative characters in Fannie Flagg’s novel. How does she portray minorities?

Do you think Evelyn is being helped by her conversations with Ninny? Why? Would you be bored if you were her?

Have you ever had a friend/relative who is an addict (of drugs, alcohol, smoking, technology, etc)? What are the main traits of that condition? Do you consider yourself addicted to anything? If yes, how do you deal with it?

Supplementary readings:

Virginia Woolf, “From A Room of One’s Own”

This is a self-evaluation and exercise guide for each unit. It will provide some startup questions, supplementary theoretical texts that will help you navigate the theoretical aspects of the course and that are covered by prior courses in the Faculty of English Language and Literature. To facilitate reading, all selections have been made from The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, 2^nd edition. It will also provide some multiple-choice exercises that will help you gauge your understanding of the unit’s material.

Preparatory questions:

Have you ever heard of anorexia, bulimia, agoraphobia? In what context?

Why do you think people are willing to subject their bodies to extreme treatments of diet, surgery, or exercise?

Think of famous fat people. How are they portrayed by culture?

Ageism is the bias against either very old or very young people. How are old people usually portrayed as? How does culture/the law treat the old?

Think of famous old people. How are they portrayed by culture?

Think of the concept of the “desperate (suburban) housewife”: what images are attached to it?

What do you think about Idgie and Ruth’s relationship?

Do you think Evelyn Couch is justified in wanting to commit suicide?

Supplementary readings:

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, “Capital” (all excerpts)

Hélène Cixous, “The Laugh of the Medusa”

This is a self-evaluation and exercise guide for each unit. It will provide some startup questions, supplementary theoretical texts that will help you navigate the theoretical aspects of the course and that are covered by prior courses in the Faculty of English Language and Literature. To facilitate reading, all selections have been made from The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism, 2^nd edition. It will also provide some multiple-choice exercises that will help you gauge your understanding of the unit’s material.

Why is the body important? Why is it interesting to talk about?

How many different meanings has the word “body” have? How many different bodies could you recall if you think about it for 5 minutes? What makes them memorable?

Think of bodies in art. What different ways can you recall of portraying the body, and why do they differ so?

Supplementary readings:

Ferdinand de Saussure, “From Course in General Linguistics, Part One, Chapter I”