6 Credits | Prof. Daniel ELAM
Controversial and often explosive, questions of good, bad, evil, or the moral and amoral have fueled debates and quarrels over cultural texts and their meanings throughout history. Aesthetic evaluations and moral judgments are also often enmeshed. Governments may censor or ban certain kinds of books, films and other art works, or censure the artists who produce them because they assume that art has a moral dimension . Consequently, because such arbitrations shape how we respond to, evaluate, and interpret these texts, students will read critical and creative texts that engage with narrative ethics as they appear in different cultural and linguistic traditions. This focus on ethics will simultaneously redirect us back to narrativity and the constructedness of texts.
Assessment: 100% coursework.