128222 SE Literary Seminar (MA) (2025S)

Throughout much of their co-authored and single-authored oeuvre, philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari address themselves to an abiding question in political philosophy: “why do we fight for our servitude as stubbornly as if it were our salvation?” (1983: 38). For example, why do some people show so much infatuation with a monarchy, even though it is a system in which they are literally described as “subjects”? Why, in the age of online content creators and lifestyle influencers, are so many people attached to a hard-work ethic (“grindset mindset”) that celebrates the compulsive demands of capitalist exploitation and wage slavery? And why do so many people identify with billionaires and strongman politicians who show open contempt for humanity and are eager to hasten the demise of the planet? Deleuze and Guattari argue that we are not necessarily duped into embracing fascism; rather, under certain conditions, we desire it (1983: 38). But what is the nature of that desire, and how do we free ourselves from it?

This class will address these murky and complicated questions as they are indexed within a broad range of literary texts: Sylvia Plath’s “Daddy” (1965), Virginia Woolf’s The Waves (1931), Nalo Hopkinson’s The Salt Roads (2003), Mohsin Hamid’s Exit West (2017), Ursula Le Guin's The Lathe of Heaven (1971), and Maggie Nelson's The Argonauts (2015). Using insights from Deleuze and Guattari (including their enthusiastic engagement with literature), we will uncover multiple ways of confronting fascist desire. Yet, literature can also enact the potential for building connections and durable social formations that challenge the forces of reaction, creating what they call “revolutionary desire” (1983: 39). From here, we will start ourselves on a path toward imagining “the non-fascist life” - a life characterized by mutuality, creativity, solidarity, affirmation, and joy. Our reading of different texts will incorporate Deleuzoguattarian concepts, allowing us to see how literature and art enable us to invent new subjectivities and, as Deleuze says, discover “reasons to believe in this world” (1989: 172). Today, the stakes for such an approach to culture and power could not be higher; and it is up to us to be worthy of the time.

Course outcomes:
1. Students will be able to locate and understand the connection between Deleuzoguattarian concepts and literary analysis
2. Students will be able to connect the reading of literature to a broader engagement with political power and domination
3. Students will be able to utilize concepts from the tradition of poststructuralism and affect theory in literary studies.