LIT-218 Literatures of Witness

Witness literature is testimonial by individuals who have suffered injustice incurred not as a result of what they have done but of what they are, as in Holocaust and slave narrative. We will study this literature and ask how its definition might be adapted to an era that has seen wide growth in systems of police action. We will read classic witness texts, work by political prisoners and by ‘common criminals’: writers who have been convicted for violations of law but also challenge collectively experienced limits on life opportunities, such as those imposed by race, class, and/or gender.

Maximum Enrollment

Writing-Intensive (18)

(Writing Intensive, Social Structural and Institutional Hierarchies.)

Credits

1

Prerequisite

One course in literature.

Notes

(History, SSIH)