Expository writing based on analysis of selected masterpieces of ancient and modern literature. R1A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R1B satisfies the second half.

This course centers on texts that depict queer desire and sexuality, written by queer authors. Our critical focus will lie, however, in questions relating to form and language: what kinds of narrative, poetic, and experimental structures do these texts produce, both through and alongside their focus on queer desire? In other words, we will ask not why stories depict queerness, but rather how these texts produce queer language and narrative forms. We will also consider the complexities of using present-day language in the study of texts and figures from the past. Throughout the semester, we’ll work to sharpen our ability to notice that certain details in a text seem strange, contradictory, confusing, or otherwise “queer.” We will practice close reading as a method of reading “queerly” and put these critical readings into words, both on the page and in our class discussions each week. In this course, we will learn together as a community of readers and writers. Students will produce two major writing projects: the first practicing in-depth close reading and the second involving secondary research and engagement with critical scholarship. Both projects will evolve under the guidance of peer and instructor feedback and revision. This course uses a labor-based contract grading system, meaning that grades are based on the effort students commit to coursework rather than a subjective judgment of the “quality” of their writing. It is our hope that each of you will cultivate your voice as a writer as you participate in exciting conversations about literature. Together, we’ll learn to read queerly and appreciate the strangeness of texts that play with gender, genre, and desire. Selected course materials: ● Twelfth Night (1602), William Shakespeare ● Passing (1929), Nella Larsen ● Girls in Uniform (1931), dir. Leontine Sagan ● Crossing the Mangrove (1989), Maryse Condé ● Epistemology of the Closet (1990), Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

Enrolled students must attend the first two weeks of class. If a student must miss a class OR cannot access the class's bcourses site, they must communicate with the instructor, or they may be subject to an instructor drop.

Requisites

• UC Entry Level Writing Requirement or UC Analytical Writing Placement Exam. 1A or equivalent is prerequisite to 1B.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills