RELGST 0435 - RELIGION, FILM AND LITERATURE

Minimum Credits: 3
Maximum Credits: 3
Alexis de Tocqueville famously called the United States "a nation with the soul of a church." Ironically, his observation refers to a nation whose constitution forbids the establishment of any official religious identity (while simultaneously allowing for "free," voluntary, religious "exercise"). The result--a vibrant spiritual marketplace characterized both by diversity and innovation and a clinging to traditional identities--has marked American culture and the broader stories it tells about itself. In this course we'll read closely in "secular" literary texts (including novels , graphic novels, short stories, poetry, drama, film, and music) with some attention to short, relevant readings in religious thought, practice, and history, aiming for two related objectives: 1) to observe the overt ways religions appear in and contribute to these texts--symbolically, rhetorically, schematically, etc.--and 2) to consider how presumably "secular" literature functions religiously, giving form and coherence to the ambiguities of American experiences, identities, and crises that remain in flux, constantly under revision. Readings will include both "classic" and more contemporary works by Gwendolyn Brooks, Willa Cather, Mark Twain, Flannery O'Connor, William Styron, Oscar Hijuelos, Art Speigelman, August Wilson, James McBride, the Cohen Brothers, and/or others.
Academic Career: UGRD
Course Component: Lecture
Grade Component: LG/SNC Elective Basis

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