Even though my newest new course - on women's life-writing - doesn't begin until next week, I've been starting to think about another new offering for next year. Though i'm supposed to be doing five other things right now, I started thinking about offering a course on GUILT (with a heavy dose of shame thrown in). So far I'm thinking about including texts like The Scarlet Letter, Charlotte Temple, "William Wilson," "The tell-tale heart," The Crucible, and Native Son. Of course, we'd have to begin with Genesis and we'd probably make a pit-stop at Macbeth, but any other good American suggestions? I think I'd conceive it as a mix of cultural history, literature, Am. studies kinda thing.
J has long been interested in shame, but I find guilt the more operative emotion. I'd call that the classic WASP v. Jew divide.
1 comment:
Very cool. Have you read Time's Arrow, by Martin Amis? Since he's a Brit, it might not work for your class, but it's pretty interesting on guilt (it's a fictional autobiography, told backwards).
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