EGH621   Animal Writes: Beasts and Humans in the 20th and 21st Century Fiction   (30 credits)

Description

It is an intriguing paradox that authors have often used the highest literary resources of language¿the single defining factor that we usually think separates humans from animals¿to reflect on the non-human. Here, we study 20th Century texts in which the representation of animals¿ lives and minds is central. We will explore questions such as: how have writers re-worked the animal fable form (one of the oldest literary modes)? What are the creative means by which writers portray a more-than-human world? How can we best interpret a specific literary work's representations of human-animal relations in ways that recognize their importance in that text's full range of meaning? And, more definitely, in what ways does literary fiction¿precisely as literature, rather than as philosophy or polemic¿offer something of unique value in the challenge to human-centered ways of thinking and being in the world?

Reading List