Training in writing expository prose. Further instruction in expository writing in conjunction with reading literature. Satisfies the second half of the Reading and Composition requirement.

In Capital, Karl Marx speaks of the ""absolute contradiction,"" of industrialized labour, which ""does away with all repose."" Repose, or Ruhe in the original German (calm, silence, tranquility, rest), cannot withstand capitalism's ruthless drive to transform the means of production. The worker is caught between this drive and his place within the division of labour: between a complex, mechanized workplace, and the menial repetition of rote, assigned tasks. For the philosopher Theodor Adorno, this contradiction comes to inhabit even notions of liberation. We are left with a notion of “freedom as frantic bustle”—of a utopia in which one cannot “leave possibilities unused.” The compulsion to be productive, to fulfil or complete duties, is present even in arrangements “made in order to escape want.” Yet Adorno also offers a curious alternative, speaking of a world in which one might find oneself “lying on water and looking peacefully at the sky.” In this state of repose or reverie, the drive towards satisfaction and completion is put aside; one merely looks. Following Adorno, in this course we will become “spectators on the sidelines of progress.” Turning to examples in literature, film, and visual art, we will consider states of repose and reverie—of rumination, contemplation, and mere perception—without fruition or completion. Alongside that of Adorno and Marx, we will read work by Lisa Robertson, Leanne Betasamsosake Simpson, Alexander Kluge, Audre Lorde, T.J. Clark, Kevin Quashie, and Jonathan Crary. We will also view films by Jem Cohen and Agnes Varda, and paintings by Georges Seurat and Pieter Bruegel. Ultimately, students will write an 8–10-page research paper. However, our emphasis will be on research as creative process and reflection, rather than as the pursuit of “complete” arguments.

Requisites

• Previously passed an R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Previously passed an articulated R_A course with a letter grade of C- or better. Score a 4 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Literature and Composition. Score a 4 or 5 on the Advanced Placement Exam in English Language and Composition. Score of 5, 6, or 7 on the International Baccalaureate Higher Level Examination in English.

Repeat Rules

Course is not repeatable for credit.

Requirements class fulfills