LIT-205 Collecting Curiosities
Why do people collect objects? What desires motivate this curatorial obsession across cultures? How does a collection reflect and shape society’s socio-political relationship with wonder, power, gender, race, and language? It is no accident that many writers are fascinated by the objects and the collection into which they are (dis)placed. Students will consider collecting as a serious mode of thinking, writing, and practice by studying the Wunderkammer in art and literature. Analysis of works by Borges, Diderot, Benjamin, Mary Shelley, Angela Carter, Pamuk, and others will be combined with hands-on study of the Wellin Museum, Special Collections, and cabinets of curiosities. Digital Humanities projects.
Standard Course (40)
Credits
1
Notes
Intermedia and Theory