Instructor: Professor William C. Summers, M.D., Ph.D.
Office Hours: By appointment
email to instructor: (click here)
Tuesday/Thursday 400-515 pm; Room LC 104
Discourses of desire as reflected in literature, history, popular culture, medicine and science with examination of both Western and Non-western examples. Connections with shifting notions of gender and sexuality; intersections with race, class, and culture. How desire is recognized, represented and understood in diverse cultures and subcultures, especially as it relates to sexual minorities, will be the main theme of this seminar. This seminar is open only to freshmen and sophomores.
Armistead Maupin, Tales of the City, Ballantine Books (paperback) (1979)
Paul Monette, Becoming a Man : Half a Life Story, Harper Perennial Modern Classics (2004)
Leslie Feinberg, Stone Butch Blues, Alyson Books (2004)
Jeanette Winterson, Oranges are not the Only Fruit, Grove Press (1997)
Yukio Mishima, Confessions of a Mask, Peter Owen Ltd; New Ed edition (1998)
James Baldwin, Giovanni's Room, Penguin Classics; New Ed edition (2001)
Intro, etc. (Reading Maupin) (Before class read Aristophanes from Plato's Symposium: click here for text)
Tales of the City (Book I), Armistead Maupin
Film: Tales of the City (Reading Monette)
Film: Tales of the City (Reading Monette)
Discuss Film (Reading Monette)
Becoming a Man, Paul Monette (Reading Baldwin)
Becoming a Man, Paul Monette (Reading Baldwin)
Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin
Giovanni's Room, James Baldwin
Film: Ma Vie en Rose (Reading Feinberg)
Discussion of Film (Reading Feinberg)
6 Oct. Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg (Reading Winterson)
8 Oct. Stone Butch Blues, Leslie Feinberg (Reading Winterson)
13 Oct. Film: But I'm a Cheerleader
16 Oct. Discussion of Film
20 Oct. Oranges are not the only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson
22 Oct. Oranges are not the only Fruit, Jeanette Winterson (Final Paper Due)
27 Oct. Film: Transamerica (Reading Mishima)
29 Oct. Discussion of Film (Reading Mishima)
3 Nov. Confessions of a Mask, Yukio Mishima (Reading for final paper)
5 Nov. Confessions of a Mask, Yukio Mishima (Reading for final paper)
10 Nov. Film: Beautiful Boxer (Reading for final paper)
12 Nov. Discussion of Film (Reading for final paper)
17 Nov. Film: Antique (Reading for final paper)
19 Nov. (NO CLASS)
Thanksgiving Recess
1 Dec. Discussion of Film. (Reading for final paper)
3 Dec. Discussion of books for final papers
Midterm paper: 5-6 page paper on an assigned topic: due 22 Oct 2009
Final Paper: Pick two books for a critical review essay (3000 words). Due 4:30 PM, 11 Dec 2009. Drop paper in box outside Room 315 WLH