123043 PS Proseminar Literature (2011W)

Representations of Cultural Otherness in American Literature

In this class, we will deal with the construction of „otherness,“ a discussion that necessarily involves the opposition of identity and alterity and the concept of power and cultural aberrations.
We will consider discourses of nation, ethnicity, gender, and mental capability in our discussion of texts by authors such as Thomas Wolfe, Chester Himes, Sinclair Lewis, or Susanna Kaysen. Our aim will also be to analyze movies in our inquiry of cultural identities and their dividing lines. We will listen to “deviant” voices and will try to find out something about positions of difference, from both inside and outside the group.